《Drunk Dungeon》


 Chapter 1: Hangover in the Depths

    I woke up on a cold and hard floor. No, not floor but ground. Dirt and dust caked my body and tiny rocks poked into my stomach and cheeks. I felt a raging heat at my forehead alongside a wracking headache only dampened slightly by the cool yet uncomfortable ground.


    I lifted myself up slightly to get my face off the ground and immediately regretted it as a surge of nausea hit me. I vomited and whatever came out burned my throat and was mostly bile and other fluids. My body dry heaved a few times until it realized there was nothing to throw up anymore. While wiping my mouth I noticed a bowl of food and a drink next to me.


    If not to fill my stomach, it would at least give me something to throw up later. The bowl was made of wood and was filled with bread, shelled nuts, a carrot, and a wedge of cheese. Enough for a meal or two. Not a feast but still everything I needed. But before that, I was parched and grabbed the drink, which was a long glass bottle filled with a clear fluid with a stopper on top.


    I pulled out the stopper and took a whiff of the contents. Anything that could get rid of my thirst was welcome but I hoped it was water. Instead, it smelt of something with a bit more spirit to it, liquor. I turned away from the strong smell as I was already recovering from drinking heavily the night before. Eventually, I took a small sip to quench my dry mouth and the booze burned every step of the way, a different kind of burn than the vomit but just as unwelcome.


    It cleared my head as I closed my eyes tightly and let out a grunt. Strong stuff it was and it had a pleasant nutty aftertaste rather than the harsh spices I''m used to. Last time I drank something of such quality was years ago. Normally, it¡¯d take around twenty mugs of beer to knock me out but a full mug of this was just as likely to blind me as it was to kick me into next week.


    My stomach settled down a bit with the warm brew inside, no longer wanting to push itself out of me. So, I ate some of the food while looking around me. I was in some sort of cavern with two exits and a torch on the wall lighting things up. As much as I wished this was an old mine or cave I fell into, I could tell I was in the dungeon.


    The torch on the wall was producing no smoke nor was it actually burning. The flames were around it and the wood was not discolored or darkened by it. That and some vague memories about a drinking contest and a bet involving the dungeon floated around my head. The worst possible scenario for me has popped up. I was deep within the bowels of the world itself and surrounded by rooms filled with hostile environments and not so friendly monsters.


    This room seemed to be one of the so-called safe rooms. A place where one could rest and not worry about monsters appearing. There was even food and enough space to set up a tent to call the night. If only I had a tent instead of passing out on the ground. Then again, with how drunk I had been, I''d probably have done the same thing even with a tent. Anywhere else in the dungeon, resting for long was nigh impossible as even after monsters were cleared from a room, more would come if one stayed too long. So in a way, I was lucky for choosing to pass out here.


    I ate everything in the bowl and drowned it down with another mouthful of liquor. I was very hungry after my stomach settled down. Thirsty too, but I couldn''t handle drinking too much of this stuff. A beer I could work with, but even I wouldn''t get drunk during the day unless there was some sort of celebration going on. The strength of the liquor was bringing back a headache from my hangover and giving me a buzz already. There was still almost a full bottle of this stuff so I put the stopper back on and slip it into my clothes.


    Maybe if I was lucky, the monsters hadn''t come back from the rooms I passed through. The way the dungeon worked is that monsters spawned in areas faster if you linger but if you rush through, those areas often have no monsters on the way back. It encourages people delving in to go as far as possible very quickly, often dying in the process as caution is thrown to the wind. Then again, I was passed out for who knows how long and I don''t even know which direction I came from. However, sitting here forever wouldn''t help so I stood up and bumped into something.


    Half a glass bottle rolled away from me, making an obnoxiously loud noise as it did so and it left a trail of some dark brown liquid. The bottom half was broken off leaving behind jagged and razor sharp glass in a circle. It was the type of thing that had claimed the lives of many a bar goer. A broken bottle shank and that dark brown liquid was dried blood, not mine of course. I would''ve noticed by now if I had a new hole compliments of that piece of work.


    Beyond the trail of dry blood flaking off onto the ground, there were more splatters of dried blood every few steps leading in the direction of one of the tunnels. I presumed this is the way I came from and that this broken bottle is what I used as a weapon. Since I managed to make it this far into the dungeon, far enough to reach a rest area, I must have fought monsters on the way and I know no martial arts so it''s reasonable I used some sort of weapon. But did I really walk into one of the most dangerous places in the world with only the clothes on my back and this as a weapon. No one would believe it even as a joke.


    I started walking towards the tunnel where the blood trailed off from, picking the bottle up on the way because I needed something to use as a weapon the way back if I''m unlucky. As I walked, I felt heavier than usual and a bit awkward, especially around my back. It felt like something with a bit of weight was sticking to it, so I reached behind me and grabbed onto something that felt rough and woodlike. There was also some sort of strap on my chest and over my shoulder that moved as I touched it. So, I pulled it over my head to unravel the strap from my body and found a shield. No, more like a buckler with its small size, meant more for parrying than blocking.


    Wood wasn''t the best material for a shield and I would''ve preferred iron even if it was made of slag. I held it on my left arm anyways because it was better than nothing. There was a strange symbol on it like an insignia that seemed like it was glowing. I tried to ignore it, but a part of me was worried it was a cursed item. However, I had used the item the day before obviously since I woke up with it, so it should have been fine to use.


    The next room was empty apart from some blood in the middle of the room. There should have been the bodies of the monsters that had been there, but the dungeon had already consumed them and by tomorrow the blood would be gone too. In fact, this entire room might be wiped from existence and replaced with something else. Me with it if I don''t make it out of here alive.


    If I stayed any longer, I''d risk a run in with a freshly spawned monster. I walked around the bloodstains and traversed to the next room. In the doorways of the rooms, there was this darkness that immediately disappeared and opened up to the next room as soon as it was touched. It was as if each room had portals rather than doorways with all of the rooms disconnected and in limbo deep underground. It was just easier to think of them being directly connected.


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    One, two, three, four and so on I mentally counted. The danger of the dungeon and the size of rooms got bigger the further down you went. I knew that I wasn''t too deep as the rooms were still rooms, small and gave off a feeling of being inside. Apparently around room fifty and onward the rooms got so big that they started to give off the feeling of being outside somewhere and there were so many monsters that things became a battlefield. Rest areas like the one I woke up in would appear only after at least ten rooms and were spaced out anywhere from ten to thirty rooms in between. If I was lucky, I was ten rooms in. If I was unlucky, thirty rooms in and at that point it''s pretty much guaranteed I''ll bump into monsters on the way back.


    Five, six, seven, eight and I was almost out of the dungeon. The rooms were only big enough for three men to walk side by side comfortably for a dozen steps. With it becoming this small, it was almost guaranteed that I''d get out a little after two rooms and not a single monster had respawned in the process. It was a bit unnerving to see the rotting corpses of the monsters as I passed through. They were humanoid yet half my size with gnarly rodent-like faces. I''d probably find an intact version by the entrance, hopefully, dead still. However, since I hadn''t found any live ones yet, I was probably safe. I had entered a dungeon in a drunken stupor, killed monsters with a bottle, and made it out alive with a shield and a bottle of strong liquor as my loot.


    Nine disagreed with my previous sentence as if the dungeon itself heard my thoughts and wanted me to eat my words. In a room that could barely fit me, I found two monsters, one alive and one dead. The dead one was just bones, completely stripped clean of flesh with several bones snapped in half. The living one was pretty much indistinguishable from a normal rat except much bigger, being able to stand on two legs, brown rather than the usual black fur, and the fact that its hands were big enough to hold a weapon, which just so happened to be one of the dead rat''s ribs.


    This foul beast had spawned just in time to block my way, or rather just in time to consume the corpse of his fallen comrade then face me. I should''ve been quicker. Maybe I could''ve made it past before it spawned if I hadn''t stopped to eat and took so much time to get here. Which would be even more terrifying because if that was true then this rat had eaten its comrade within a few minutes. Probably best to just blame it on my hangover making me sleep in.


    The rat gave off a squeak which would have been cute if it was coming from a small mouse or rat, but it was terrifying and high pitched coming from this monstrosity. It charged me with the rib raised up in the air. The damn thing wanted to stab me with it. I lifted up my shield to meet its strike. The rib slammed into my shield and shattered, but the impact pushed me up against the wall and the rat didn''t back down one bit. It dropped the broken rib and clawed at my shield with both its hands while its head leaned in close to my face and tried biting me. Its teeth snapped shut multiple times centimeters away from my face and I could smell something rotten from its breath.


    Something had to be done. All I had was the broke bottle from before in my right hand. Should I stab it or bash it over the head? What am I supposed to do? I haven''t ever killed anything before, well not while sober. My hand started shaking and I could barely move as my strength began to leave my body. I closed my eyes and could feel its hot breath get closer and closer to my face. I felt like I was going to die there. Then, I stabbed the broken bottle into the beast, not sure when I did it or where I stabbed it but it let out a shriek and backed away from me. I opened my eyes to see it lying on the ground with its hand over its stomach, trying to stop the bleeding.


    It almost seemed human as it curled up and shivered as life left its body. A terrible cannibalizing human being, but it was there nonetheless. I walked closer to it, maybe out of curiosity or perhaps out of pity. For such a foul beast, its death was slow, quiet and peaceful. Except, it wasn''t dead just yet and as soon as I got closer it suddenly pounced at me. I instinctively brought up my hands to cover my face and with them my shield. It had gone for my neck but instead found it facefirst with my shield.


    I fell over from the impact and my left arm was deeply in pain, either bruised, sprained, or broken. The creature was lying off to the side of me, rolling around and foaming at the mouth while blood sprayed everywhere from its stomach. I lifted up my right arm and started stabbing it with the broken bottle, over and over again as more blood sprayed all over me. Every time I stabbed it, it would let out a shrill cry but it wouldn''t die. I kept stabbing and stabbing until finally, I realized it wasn''t moving anymore. And this time I was sure it was dead because half its organs and all of its blood were strewn about on the floor and me. Its wounds no longer bled and it no longer made any sounds or movements. My first kill while sober was brutal, gory, and by no means peaceful or quiet.


    The dead body beside me began to rapidly decompose and got sucked into the ground within a few seconds. In its place lied a reddish colored rock. Sometimes after a monster died in the dungeon, instead of the usual rotting and slowly seeping into the dungeon at a pace relative to how deep in the dungeon it is, it would disappear instantly and leave behind some loot. The loot was everything from materials that could be sold to items and equipment that could be used. The higher the room count, the more likely this would happen and the more valuable it is. The equipment sometimes was created with a random effect that could be useful or downright harmful. My wooden shield must''ve been looted a monster deeper into the dungeon and likely had one of those random effects.


    As for the rock on the ground, I think it was a piece of copper or iron from the color. Not sure, but I can sell it and use the cash to knock down my tab at the bar. Would make up for the lack of work lately around town. I wish I could rest here for a moment, catch my breath and clean off some of this blood. However, the longer I stay here, the more likely I am to bump into another monster if there''s not one the next room over. So, I grabbed the rock and tossed it into my shirt, next to the booze which I drank a sip and poured a tiny bit into my hand to scrub off some of the blood on my hands and face. Then I got up and walked towards the next room.


    Which was actually the exit as I left the dungeon and found myself in the outside world once again. The sun bore down on me, feeling especially bright this day. It was around noon, not an unusual time for me to wake up after drinking. Thanks to a light breeze, it wasn''t too hot despite being in the middle of summer. Everything just felt so nice in comparison to the dreary insides of the dungeon. Which was odd because normally be swearing up a storm about the sun being too bright or the air being too hot.


    The dungeon was on the outskirts of town and people only went to it early in the morning and late afternoon so there was no one around. Looking like this, I couldn''t go into town. So, I went off to the nearby river and took a bath. Downriver of town so no one would panic about the blood and so it wouldn''t contaminate the drinking supply. Nothing worse than grabbing a scoop of water only to find hair in it. My clothes stuck to my body, glued on with dried blood and I had to peel it off. I rinsed it in the water and tried rubbing out the blood but the clothes were hopelessly stained brownish red.


    Hadn''t cleaned them in a while so I could probably convince people that this was its original color. My clothes were the least of my worries at this point. There was also the things I brought out of the dungeon. The shield, the rock, and the booze. I left the broken bottle there and I probably should''ve brought it with me in case there was another room. Now, I had to consider what to do with these things. The booze I could drink it or sell it to the bar since it was so strong to buy a bunch of weaker drinks like beer and ale. I needed to figure out what the rock and shield were before selling or keeping them.


    In times like this, the best thing to do was to go to the bar and consult Tom. Tom always has good ideas and is very patient. As the owner of the local bar, he had dealt with a lot of things in his life. In fact, he was most likely involved in me waking up in the dungeon. That''s another thing I needed to talk with him about.

 Chapter 2: A Reason to Go Back Down

    The bar was a simple two-story building made of wood with a stone chimney. It served alcohol and food while the upstairs had rooms for rent. It was a pretty standard setup as people would get too drunk to go home and if they couldn''t afford a room they would sleep on the ground. The occasional traveler would look for a room around town and would often have a bite to eat or a drink before they turned in. Even with that, it wasn''t the most profitable venture in a small town like this. But Tom was a bit of a multitasker. He was barkeep, innkeeper, and cook all once. He did all the work himself, had no one to pay, and gained a bunch of skills useful for life in the process.


    I pushed open the front door with a loud creak as the door had rusty metal hinges. There were only four people inside the bar at this time. One sleeper at a table still hungover. Two older men who always came here early to start drinking from noon on before being picked up and dragged off by their wives before night. And then there was Tom wiping vomit off one of the tables.


    "You''re here earlier than usual," said Tom, stopping his work at the sound of the door.


    "Yeah, I need some advice on a few things," I said while taking a seat at the table he had been cleaning. Tom sat down across from me. At slow times like this, he was more than happy to relax and chat.


    "What''s with your clothes? They''re a different color than usual," pointed out Tom.


    "I washed them today. I just haven''t washed them in a while," I said, the cover story I decided to go with.


    "Save the bullshit for someone who hasn''t cleaned up after more than one barfight. I know what dried blood looks like. Now tell me what your first trip to the dungeon was like."


    Just as I thought, he must know the story from yesterday and he''s as perceptive as always. However, he''s wrong on one point.


    "It wasn''t my first time in a dungeon I''ll let you know. Ten years ago I entered the dungeon entrance in my hometown."


    "So you said yesterday. You bragged about it so much that we dared you to do it again to prove it then you stormed off with a bottle of the good stuff. Your bragging kept things lively and taps were running so I gave it to you on the house. I''m glad you''re back alive even though it means I lost in the bets."


    "That explains everything. Entering the dungeon was one of the last great things in my life. It''s one of the only things I can brag about and I can be quite stubborn when drunk. I don''t actually remember the events of yesterday but I get the gist of what happened."


    "Stubborn? More like gullible and easy to convince. We make you do all sorts of things when you''re wasted. This time you just happened to convince yourself to do something since we didn''t believe you. Now I believe you. At least I believe you went there yesterday."


    "That''s not how I am when... wait did you mention something about a bet earlier. Did you really bet I''d die in the dungeon?"


    "Of course not. Betting on customers dying is bad business. I bet on you passing out cold on the side of the road."


    "We bet on you dying," cut in one of the old men drinking off to the side. They usually keep out of conversations, but when they do say something it''s always blunt and rude. It''s all in good humor. What were their names again?


    "Let''s get back to the main topic. What do you need help with? If it has anything to do with the stains on your shirt, you''re better off throwing it out and getting new clothes. Blood doesn''t come out easily."


    "We both know I can''t afford new clothes. Besides, if I could you''d probably have me pay off my tab first."


    "Heck, I''d buy you the clothes myself if you promise to help out come harvest season. You wouldn''t be able to drink as much as you''d be doing lots of work, but you won''t have any more debt to your name and have some pocket change."


    "Can we focus on this instead," I said while pulling out the items I got from the dungeon.


    Tom immediately grabbed what he was most familiar with, the bottle of alcohol. He popped its top and gave it a sniff. Then he lifted it up and drank a sip. Which is surprising as it''s the first time I''ve seen him drink in seven years. He then set the bottle down and closed his eyes for a bit. I was worried that he fell asleep as if he was that weak to alcohol. But he opened his eyes again and inspected the bottle closely.


    "As I thought, this brew is familiar. So is this bottle. The smell, the taste, and the feel of the bottle are all the same. Two years ago during the surplus harvest, I opened a bottle of this to celebrate the occasion and let everyone in the bar have a cup. You even made a ruckus about how it was the best liquor you ever tasted."


    "The very same as back then? As in the dungeon took it from my memory that I can barely remember myself? Or is it some sort of coincidence. I found this in one of the dungeon''s rest areas alongside a bowl of food."


    "This is the first time I''ve heard of there being a drink other than water in a rest area. Food, on the other hand, seems to change depending on what people normally eat or are currently craving. Perhaps the same happened here but with the drink as well. Your body craved alcohol more than it craved water. Maybe we should ask Jerry about this?"


    "Considering how knackered I already was, I''m not surprised at that. And no, this isn''t worth getting Jerry involved."


    Jerry was the resident dungeon diver in the village with some of his friends and was a bit of a prick. He was young, handsome, and capable. The only real downside to him was his prudish personality and his dislike for people who were lazy or seen as a waste of space in his eyes, like me. Honestly, asking him for advice on the stuff I found in the dungeon was probably a better bet than asking Tom, but I considered him a last resort as I would like to avoid him if at all possible.


    "If you say so, but I can''t help too much with the other things. This rock, whatever it is, needs to be assessed by someone who knows their metals and earth. Jeff the blacksmith should know what it is and will probably buy it off you. As for the shield, you''ll need Jeoffry from the local temple to help you out. It''s either cursed or divine. Which means it might be anywhere from worthless to priceless. He should be able to assess its value, not that you''d be able to pry any coins from his hands to sell it to him though. In fact, might be worthwhile trying to sell the rock first and donating coin to the temple or he might not do his job."


    "Right, hopefully, that''s not necessary, but I''ll keep it in mind. Thanks again for helping me out Tom. If it''s worth something, I can cut down my tab."


    I pocketed the items and got up. Tom walked me to the door and opened the door for me when. When I tried walking past him, he grabbed my shoulder and kept me from going and looked into my eyes.


    "Do not take this small success in the dungeon for granted. You can''t even remember going in there so don''t think you can go in there anytime without preparations again. I don''t care if you owe me money for your tab, don''t get yourself killed."


    "I understand," I responded and he finally let me go. After that situation in the dungeon with the rat monster, I don''t think I could bear going back into the dungeon. When I was drunk I somehow managed to kill multiple rat monsters without making a mess, but there''s no guarantee that''ll happen again. As soon as I was sober and fought just one of them, I got an arm injury and came very close to dying. The next time I approach the dungeon drunk might be my last.


    The local forge, blacksmith shop or whatever it¡¯s called was located on the outer edges of town, unlike the bar which the town was basically built around. So I had to do a bit of walking. Though most people were out in the fields, doing work, or relaxing inside to escape the midsummer heat, there were a few people walking to and fro. They moved to the side of the road as I passed, looking at me in disgust while covering their noses or glared at me. I wasn¡¯t too well liked and it wasn¡¯t like I actually smelled as I just took a bath. People can be so melodramatic.


    At the outskirts of town, there was no one in sight but there was plenty of noise. Jeff was working on something inside. His building was the only one in town completely made of stone and brick. After all, if he used any wood the whole damn thing would probably burn down over his head. I knocked on the door as he hated people who came inside uninvited. Then waited as the sound of hammering paused for a second before resuming. Whatever he was working on, he found it more important than welcoming me in.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    It wasn¡¯t until ten or so minutes later than he shouted, ¡°Enter.¡±


    Blunt and straight to the point, that was how Jeff was and nothing could change that. I pushed the door open and a wave of heat and smoke hit me straight in the face. Jeff preferred his home and workplace to be constantly toasty and insulated so I closed the door behind me with a cough and watery eyes. Best to do this quick, sell the rock and get out.


    Jeff was seated at a table with a three-pronged hoe in his hands. One of the prongs looked a bit distorted. Must¡¯ve been bent out of shape and the hammering was putting it back into place. Fixing a bent hoe was cheaper than buying a new one, but I doubt it¡¯d last much longer as the metal would be a mess without reforging the entire thing. Not that the farmer who owned it would care, he would just want something to get him through the rest of this season until he could afford a brand new one after the harvest.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Jeff.


    In response, I pulled the rock out of my shirt and set it on his work table. He took one look at it before pulling out some coins and passing them to me. They were silver coins, enough to pay most of my bar tab if not all. And my bar tab goes back months, bless Tom¡¯s heart. Wasn¡¯t this a bit too much money for a hunk of unrefined metal ore.


    ¡°Pure copper ore,¡± he said while holding the rock in his hands and turning it over a few times.


    ¡°Is it really worth this much?¡± I asked while taking the coins. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever held so much cash in my hands before, but over my lifetime I must¡¯ve let plenty slip through my fingers.


    ¡°No, worth more. Shortage in the city. Merchant will take it for triple the pay. Pay me back by the next merchant¡¯s stop and I¡¯ll give it back,¡± he replied. That¡¯s so like Jeff, letting me know he¡¯s ripping me off terribly and then giving me a chance to fix that while I¡¯m completely in the dark. Heck, he could¡¯ve given me a single silver coin and I would¡¯ve left, no questions asked.


    I started to leave but I couldn¡¯t help but take a look at the wall directly left of the entrance. There, Jeff put on display a variety of weapons he made in his spare time. Mostly farm tools with a few things changed and the pointy bits sharpened like axes and pitchforks, but there was a single proper weapon there, a sword. This was Jeff¡¯s hobby, to turn spare and scrap metal into weapons that could be converted into farm tools in a time of need. People like Jerry and his gang were the only ones to buy them before they went down into the dungeon.


    Maybe if I had a weapon like this sword, I could explore the dungeon freely. My hands wouldn¡¯t shake and I could cut down those monsters before they even came close, coming back out with hands full of riches. A dream I haven¡¯t had since I was young, but a fond memory it was to imagine myself like that again, no matter how cruel reality was.


    ¡°How impractical,¡± said Jeff while taking the sword off of the wall, ¡°In the dungeon, this would last but one or two rooms before dulling in the hands of an amateur.¡±


    ¡°How did you know about the dungeon?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Pass out before reaching the door was my bet,¡± said Jeff. So he was in on the bet as well and lost. Could he be holding a grudge over that? Is that why he¡¯s ripping me off? I can never tell this sort of thing with Jeff, he¡¯s too open and empty at the same time.


    Next stop was to the local temple, which wasn¡¯t too far from here since it was designed to be close to the fields. Give them the gods blessings or something like that. It was even taller than the bar but held only one very tall floor. It had a stone floor and foundation, but the walls were made of wood. A solid foundation with a poor building.


    Many residents of the town would come here to worship a god or goddess of their choosing in the early morning before work or in the late evening after supper. At noon, the building was empty save for the priest, Jeoffry, tirelessly scrubbing the floor to keep it clean as clean can be. Within a second, he straightened up and fixed his clothes as he heard me step inside, my footsteps echoing loud and clear within this large area. Upon seeing it was me, he relaxed a bit and walked over to a pedestal where he kept his holy writings.


    ¡°Finally come to seek a divine to dedicate your life to and help you with your many hardships. I can help you get started by helping you discover what they have to offer and more importantly, what you¡¯re willing to give to them,¡± said Jeoffry, going on a rant about making me follow a god. He would do this to anyone who hadn¡¯t come here to worship before. I can¡¯t blame him for doing so since there¡¯s little reason to come here besides that.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m here because I have an item that may be cursed or blessed by a divine and wanted you to appraise it. I can donate if that¡¯s necessary to get the appraisal,¡± I said while pulling the shield off my back.


    ¡°I cannot accept money for a service that is meant to be free. However, donations are always welcome,¡± said Jeoffry as he came around the pedestal and took the shield from my hands. The first thing he did was to look at the symbol and run his hand on it. In response, the symbol shimmered with light.


    ¡°On second thought, keep your donation. Being able to put my hands on a rarity such as this is enough for me. It is blessed by a god or goddess that I cannot put to name without checking the records. If it were to have certain effects, or if this divine had a knight order to its name, this shield may be worth far more than mortal currencies,¡± said Jeoffry as he went back to the pedestal and started flipping through the pages of a book.


    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve seen you reject a donation so this must be really big. Want to know where I got it from?¡± I asked.


    ¡°The dungeon of course. I was at the bar last night as well, even partook in the bet as it was in good humor. I had you passing out at the entrance of the dungeon. Thankfully I didn¡¯t bet too much, but I imagine Jeff and Jerry might be a bit displeased with you. Ahh, here it is, the symbol of the Goddess Sanae Patil who is linked to endurance and lesser healing with no knight order,¡± said Jeoffry, revealing the origins behind the shield and its possible blessings. Alongside the fact that avoided Jerry was a really good idea. Tempting to just jump back down into the dungeon for a few days so he doesn¡¯t blame me for losing that bet.


    ¡°So what does it do and is it valuable?¡± I asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s worthless to knights and its effects is of low value to dungeon explorers who prefer offensive options. Might be of some value to a noble as a novelty item but overall it¡¯s a bust. Best to keep it until someone offers enough to take it off your hands. As for its effect, why don¡¯t you ask her yourself?¡± said Jeoffry.


    The fact that the shield couldn¡¯t be sold for a fortune was a bit disappointing but at least the rock turned out to be a hunk of valuable copper. And it was still a divine item, much better than being cursed to say the least. Least I could do was pray to this goddess once to figure out what it does and give thanks for receiving it. Saved my life down in the dungeon since it kept that rat bastard from getting at my neck.


    ¡°Alright, but doesn¡¯t that take a while to do? Walk me through the process.¡±


    ¡°You have her divine item with you, just kneel while touching the symbol in a temple should be enough to make a connection. Just do it off to the side so you¡¯re not in the middle of the walkway.¡±


    Well, that¡¯s awfully convenient. No wonder divine items are worth a fortune when they¡¯re linked to a knight order. Must make things so much easier for those knights who have to pray every day and enact their divine¡¯s orders. I walked over to a corner of the temple that Jeoffry pushed me towards then I did as instructed.


    I knelt down with my hand upon the shield and closed my eyes. Nothing happened for the first few moments and I got a bit antsy. Then, everything turned white for a few moments and I understood what must be done. Rather than a meeting with the goddess, it was an experience that told me everything I needed to know at this time.


    My meeting with the goddess could be summed up within a few points. First, I¡¯m dying from alcohol poisoning in my liver and will die within a year. Second, if I quit drinking I¡¯ll still die, faster actually due to the shock and stress from quitting my addiction. Third, if I establish a knight order for Goddess Sanae Patil, she will heal me and I could live to old age unless something else happens to harm me. Fourth, in order to get the funds and gear necessary to establish a knight order, I must enter the dungeon again, not just once but many many times and there was no time to spare.


    ¡°I see you¡¯ve awakened from your meeting. What effects does your shield grant?¡± asked Jeoffry as he scrubbed the floor near me.


    I took a look at my left arm, the one I had injured in the fight against the ratman, and the bruise I expected to be there, wasn¡¯t. Clear unblemished skin stared back at me. And I felt like I could run for ages without sweating, full of energy. Half of me wanted to immediately challenge the dungeon and try to escape impending death, the other half wanted to cry in this corner I found myself in, physically and metaphorically.


    ¡°Increases my natural healing and allows me to move a bit more before I get tired,¡± I responded to the priest while getting up.


    ¡°Nice, both blessings are on the shield then. That is quite lucky but unfortunately, the shield still holds the same value. By the way, you¡¯re looking a bit pale, are you alright?¡± asked Jeoffry with a bit of concern for my wellbeing. Now that I had prayed to a goddess and held a divine item, he saw me as one of his flock and treated me better than usual. Not sure how I felt about that, or anything really.


    ¡°I¡¯m alright,¡± I said while leaving the temple. I had something more concerning on my mind than dealing with Jeoffry¡¯s new attitude towards me. Like the fact that I had no weapon but was expected to enter the dungeon again.


    A sword was no good, so it¡¯s either a broken bottle again or buying some sort of improvised farm tool. The sun was past noon and slowly settling downwards, it¡¯d be a while until nighttime so it seemed a bit early to eat or go to the bar. Wait, why go to the bar when the bar can come to me. I pulled out the bottle of liquor I fetched from the dungeon and took a good long swig from it.


    Earlier it gave me a headache because I was still a bit queasy from waking up. At this time, instead, it filled me with bliss and made all my concerns fly away. This bottle was I needed to get past this day, and even though it¡¯s killing me I know that not drinking it won¡¯t do me any good. Making a knight order was impossible, but making the most out of my life by drinking every day without fear of consequence was great. Either way I died, so might as well drink more and more.


    I sat down under the shade of a tree and took another drink from the bottle. I was up there in the clouds floating in the sky rather than dying here on earth. I felt something funny under me so I moved it and found myself holding a tree branch. It must¡¯ve fell during the last storm. Usually, only small branches littered the ground, nothing like this big thick branch that ruined my drinking. This tree branch reminded me of a time when I was young and swung around sticks, pretending they were swords.


    Wasn''t this a weapon?

 Chapter 3: Tree Branches make for Poor Spears but Good Clubs

    I found myself standing before the entrance of the dungeon with liquor in one hand and a tree branch in the other. I wasn¡¯t completely drunk, nor have I blacked out. I survived in the dungeon somehow with only a broken bottle as a weapon and dead drunk. I guess with a shield and what I guess I can call a club, I should be able to do better. How am I supposed to drown in my sorrows with alcohol when I can¡¯t help but think of the dungeon when drunk.


    The entrance seemed to suck me in as I stumbled inside and my surroundings changed completely. The hot summer climate was replaced with an eerie chill and everything was different shades of blue. The ground was dark blue and the torch upon the wall was possibly white but was influenced by the colors around to be a light blue. Every time I enter the dungeon, it will be completely different from the last. There was even a different kind of monster to face this time, some sort of lizard.


    Not a humanoid lizard, but a normal one if normal lizards were blue and the size of a dog. It crawled up the wall and hissed at me. I put away the booze and raised my shield to prepare for whatever this thing was about to do. It let go of the wall with its front legs and lifted its body perpendicular to the wall, then jumped towards me. Out of reflex, I dodged to the side rather than trying to block it with my shield.


    The lizard slammed onto the ground hard and made a gurgling noise, but was up on its feet again hissing at me once more. This time I didn¡¯t give it a chance to climb the wall and slammed the branch down onto its body, pinning it down but not doing much else. It started to squirm and try to claw and bite at the branch. I was sorta hoping the branch would just kill it but no such luck, I didn¡¯t swing hard enough or the offshoots cushioned the blow, or the shape was just plain awkward.


    Should I stomp on its head or bash it with my shield? It couldn¡¯t really do anything in this state, but if I stay here for too long more will appear. After a good long swig of the good stuff with my off hand, I made a decision. The branch was replaced with my foot and I started breaking off the offshoots, then flipped the branch so I was holding it by its heavy side. My makeshift club was now complete and I brought it down upon its head with a sickening crack.


    Pieces of bone, blood, and brain matter splattered across the ground. Like that, there was one less monster in this damnable place. No loot this time so the body would rot. I wiped some of the gunk off the branch onto the lizard¡¯s lower body then continued on to the next room. Same thing as the previous room, nothing but blue and another hissing lizard. I¡¯m not sure if it was just my imagination or not but this room felt colder than the previous.


    This time I had a plan. The lizard crawled up onto the wall like last time and got ready to pounce. I kept the branch facing its thin side towards the lizard, it¡¯d be like a spear that the lizard would skewer itself on. No way for the blow to be cushioned by offshoots or just pin down the enemy, this was a sure-kill strategy. The lizard was too stupid to recognize this and suspended its front in the air and launched itself at me.


    Just as planned, the lizard impacted with the end of the branch and the branch shattered while I felt like my right arm was on fire. I dropped the branch and fell over from the impact. My right hand was all bloody and the arm felt like it¡¯d have a nasty bruise later unless the blessing from the shield stops it. Not totally sure how that shit works yet.


    The lizard wasn¡¯t much better off as it squirmed on the ground a few feet away from me with a nasty splinter. It thrashed about as blood sprayed from its chest before going still. Somewhat successful the plan was, but not as good as just dodging and bashing it in the head. Now I had half the branch I had before to work with. It went from being around half my height and being like a spear on one end and a club on the other to being basically just a club the size of my arm.


    Since my right hand was a bit mangled, I swapped my shield over to that side and picked up the club with my offhand. Not that I¡¯m any good with my left hand, but it was better than dealing with picking up and swinging a branch with a scraped up hand. The only good thing that came out of this room is the fact that only my arm was damaged and the bottle was safe and sound under my shirt. Which I took a drink from to help dull the pain.


    I continued onwards to the next room with my buzz coming back nicely. My head was in the clouds and I couldn¡¯t feel the pain. The third room was much the same as the previous, it wasn¡¯t until the later rooms that things would get noticeably bigger and have more enemies. I took no chances with fancy strategies and just dodged the incoming lizard then bashed its head in before it could even recover from its impact with the ground.


    By the time I reached room seven, I was able to swap back to my dominant hand and the lizard dropped some loot. A gray colored rock fell from its body, probably some ore but unlikely to be as valuable as that copper from before. When I slipped it into my shirt, its coldness seemed to cut straight into my body. Every time I went deeper into the dungeon the temperature got lower and lower, it was not my imagination. No extra clothes to slip on or anything I could really do other than drink more and feel the fire from my stomach spread throughout my body.


    At this point, I was full on drunk and stumbled into room eight. I considered going back since I managed to get some loot and got a bit used to fighting. Maybe it¡¯d be best to go back and get a proper weapon, but yesterday I managed to get to room ten and it was a break room with good food and alcohol. If I made it to room ten again and found another break room, would I not get more alcohol to drink? It¡¯d save me on drinking and eating expenses and the day would become pure profit with the rock.


    Room eight was a mistake. There were two lizards instead of one and they weren¡¯t up for taking turns. They immediately climbed up the walls and readied themselves at the same time. I prepared myself to dodge and one of them jumped towards me, only one of them. The first one I dodged but the second one actually delayed for a second to jump towards where I dodged. Damn lizards knew teamwork. There was no dodging nor was hitting it out of the air an option so I lifted up my shield and hoped for the best.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    I was glad that I swapped my shield back to my left before entering this room because my right arm had already dealt with enough abuse back in room two. It slammed into me hard and fell over backward, right over where the first lizard landed. Instead of climbing up the wall it bit my hand and started shaking its head back and forth. Waves and waves of pain hit me as it tried tearing my entire arm off. I lifted up the branch with my other arm and bashed its body multiple times but it wouldn¡¯t let go.


    No matter what I did, it kept biting down and tugging at me so I kept hitting it. I couldn¡¯t hit it in the head from my position on the ground, but I could hit everything else and did so. Blood and scales scattered across the ground and I hit it so many times that its spine showed. No more tugging and shaking but it refused to stop biting me until I dropped the club, slid my hand under the side of its mouth and forcibly pried it open. And then it fell down to the side, lifeless. For all I know, it had been dead for a while but I didn¡¯t notice because it was still biting me.


    For a few moments all I did was breathe heavily, then I remembered the second lizard and jumped to my feet. It was already dead. Its brain painted the shield as it hit it headfirst and killed itself on impact. The relief robbed my legs of their strength and my vision went black for a few seconds from getting up so fast so I fell on my ass and sat there for a few minutes. No way I could do a fight like that again so I forced myself to get back up again and started heading back the way I came.


    In every room I passed, I found the enemies I defeated decaying on the ground. It smelled horrible and almost made me vomit. Not that I had any food in my stomach to vomit out. Right then, I only had booze in my stomach and was constantly adding more to give myself to motivation to keep going. I would have to find someplace to eat dinner after getting out of the dungeon.


    And then, I managed to leave the dungeon without any implications inside. Not much time had passed since I went down so there was no chance for any new spawns on the way back. And my wounds were already starting to heal though my left arm felt like it was only hanging to my shoulder by a thread with all the damage done to it. The surface itself wasn¡¯t as kind as the way back up to it.


    I had just started getting used to the cold within that version of the dungeon so it felt extremely hot when I came out. That, and well there were other people at the entrance of the dungeon witnessing me coming out. Wouldn¡¯t be too bad as a lot of people in town know that I went down there and survived, it was no big secret. However, this was obviously a separate trip from the first, a second voyage into the dungeon.


    Alone, that was enough to start rumors about me becoming a professional dungeon diver. Which if I want to live longer than one year, I pretty much am now. The biggest problem with this is the people who saw me. They¡¯re the people who normally go into the dungeon and make their living off of it, entering twice a day every day and trying their luck at getting loot from the earliest floors. Jerry and his gang. And if I remember correctly¡­


    ¡°Old man, you caused me to lose a fucking bet and you have to nerve to show your face in front of me? And right after going down the dungeon a second time. It¡¯s as if you¡¯re rubbing it in my face or saying you¡¯re the real pro dungeon diver,¡± said Jerry in a bit of an unreasonable rage. Not sure what he bet on me doing but he obviously bet a lot on it to be this pissed off.


    I looked around me to see if I could just run away and avoid this bullshit. Unfortunately, two of Jerry¡¯s goons blocked off the escape routes. Only way out was through Jerry, or hopping back down the dungeon for another foray. Which I¡¯d rather avoid at this point. I sorta just want to snack on something and pass out somewhere that won¡¯t give me back problems.


    ¡°There¡¯s no running here. Just you and me, and my friends, face to face. Let¡¯s talk this out,¡± said Jerry as if he was trying to calm me down when he was the one who was exploding in my face just a second ago.


    ¡°What did you bet on me doing?¡± I asked, partially to move along the conversation to find out what he was on about, partially because I was curious about it. What was this bet that he was so sure to happen? Passing out under a tree? Getting lost and going the opposite direction of the dungeon? Backing out of going to the dungeon and coming back to the bar.


    ¡°My bet was on you dying in the dungeon. You see, I know how you are in your drunken moods. You¡¯ll do anything once you get worked up and you¡¯re able to actually focus in your stupor enough to do that thing. And I was right, you made it to the dungeon, you just didn¡¯t die. Now I¡¯m out quite a bit of silver and word on the street is that you have a shield with a divine blessing on it, shines in the sunlight quite nicely,¡± said Jerry, obviously trying to steal my shield away from me. Normally, I would have backed down even with this shield being divine and the task tied to it.


    I didn¡¯t have any chance of completing the task anyway. But there was a complication in giving up the shield. My arm was still fucked to hell and without the shield slowly healing it, I¡¯d probably have to sink all the money I got from Jeff into a doctor then still likely lose my arm. At this point in time, giving in to Jerry¡¯s demand is not an option.


    ¡°You losing the bet isn¡¯t any of my business. Besides, the shield is a normal wooden shield, see?¡± I said while pointing at the shield. Thankfully with my quick thinking, I realized the symbol on the shield was covered with the lizard¡¯s last thoughts. I still tried to deflect responsibility for the outcome of the bet in case he still wanted me to give the shield even if he thought it was normal.


    ¡°Stop trying to hide it with monster bits, we saw you carrying it through town,¡± said one of Jerry¡¯s underlings.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, we¡¯re not so easily fooled. Give up the shield or I¡¯ll break your arm and take it by force,¡± demanded Jerry. He even took a weapon off his back, an ax. Which doesn¡¯t seem like the weapon of choice when breaking someone¡¯s arm, felt more like a chopping off sorta thing.


    I lifted up the branch in my hand and said in response, ¡°My arm is already broken.¡±


    Then, I walked backward back into the dungeon because what the hell was I going to do with a tree branch against three armed men with one of my arms down. Even if my left arm wasn¡¯t fucked, I wouldn¡¯t have tried my luck with them. They knew what my shield was and didn¡¯t know it wasn¡¯t actually that valuable. And now they were camping the outside and I had to reach the rest area in the dungeon in order to stay long enough to where they might be gone the next time I leave the dungeon.


    This time, the dungeon was warmer than the outside world.

 Chapter 4: Holy Snakes

    The heat was not unbearable but was to an uncomfortable degree. Both of the previous times I entered here, the temperature was cooler than the outside world. I was hoping that it wouldn¡¯t be like the last run and get hotter every time I went down a room. More importantly, what sort of monsters would I encounter next? First was humanoid rats and then there were giant jumping lizards. In fact, there was nothing at all in front of me. Nothing I could see at least.


    The walls were a slightly reddish brown color which reminded me of how things got colder in the bluish dungeon. But there was something strange on the right side, a hole in the wall. Until the monster that always spawns in a non-rest area room dies, I cannot progress forward. All I can do is go back from where I came, which isn¡¯t much of an option that moment.


    I approached the wall and waved my shield in front of the hole. In response, a rattling noise came from the hole as if someone gathered a bunch of pine cones in a basket then shook them. The noise was so unnerving and out of place there that I backed away from the wall. Then, I tried looking into the hole from a distance. Two glowing red orbs stared at me from within, but I couldn¡¯t see what it was, nor was it inclined to come out. An unusual strategy for sure, just staying in place where I couldn¡¯t reach it. One that could help me or hurt me.


    Since it wasn¡¯t coming out to attack me, I could just wait here indefinitely while Jerry and his friends get bored and enter the dungeon themselves, sent off to some other part of the dungeon, or go home to sleep. However, the longer I waited, the more likely another one these things would spawn in the wall. If by any chance, it just stayed in the wall like the first, then there¡¯d be no problem. Therein lies the biggest issue, these monsters act differently depending on their numbers, like the second lizard waiting for the first to go so it could hit me while I was dodging and unable to move out of the way.


    Give or take a few hours and I might have two or even three of these monsters sitting in holes until they get a funny idea and come out to attack me. So my only option was to try and bait it out of the hole. And I thought I knew the perfect plan. Waving my shield in front of the hole pissed it off, so it¡¯d come out if I pissed it off even more. Not only that, but my shield would block any possible attacks.


    About five minutes of shield waving later, the only result of my efforts was a constant rattling noise and the occasional hiss. While annoyed, the monster had no intention of coming out. I had half a mind to just stick my arm down the hole and drag it out by force. Also, half a bottle left with how much I¡¯ve been drinking. So drunk that I was seriously considering using my hand, but settled for the tree branch instead. It was thick on one side and thin on the other side and the thick side was too big for the hole.


    I shoved the branch with the thin side inside and pushed it as far as I could and hit something, but the wide part of the branch prevented me from going further. The rattling noise got much louder so I pulled it out and back in multiple times, poking whatever was inside with the tip of the branch until I felt something tug at the branch. Whatever the monster was, it was trying to pull the branch inside so I could no longer use it to annoy it. Thankfully the thickness of the branch prevented that and I yanked the branch out to see if I could pull the damn thing out.


    With the branch came a snake biting on the end of it. A pure black snake as thick as my arm and as long as my foot to my shoulder. My shock at the size of this terrifying thing made me drop the branch and immediately stomped onto its head. Fuck fighting that thing fairly, its fangs were occupied with something else so my heel got intimate with the top of its head. Surprisingly, it refused to let go and kept biting the branch, so I could bring my foot down upon it several more times. Every time I did its body coiled up and wrapped around the tree branch as if it thought it was a part of me.


    In the end, it died while causing only a tiny bit of damage to the branch, four holes towards the bottom of it. Turns out that the snake was pretty stupid for such a large monster. Actually, it wasn¡¯t that big in comparison to the other monsters. It just resembled something that would be dangerous out in the wild. Perhaps it had some sort of venom that would really screw me over if bit, but at this rate, I was in no danger of being bit at all.


    With that in mind, I took on the next few rooms the same way. First I¡¯d find out where the hole was and wave my shield in front of it to grab its attention. The second step was putting the branch in there and poking it until it bit down. Third I¡¯d fish it out and stomp its brains out. Worked out quite well at least until the fifth room.


    When I walked into the fifth room I inspected the tree branch for damage and found some of the wood flaking away from the damage of getting holes put into it constantly. It wouldn¡¯t last forever. Hopefully, the snakes would still latch on even if the branch wasn¡¯t long enough to poke it. If not, then trying my luck with Jerry and his crew being gone by now wasn¡¯t such a bad idea.


    I was hungry with naught but the brew within my shirt to keep my hunger down. But constant alcohol without any food to weaken it or snacks to accompany it wasn¡¯t fun. Felt like getting drunk for the sake of getting drunk rather than for enjoying the sensation. I was past the point of getting a buzz and more in the territory of wanting to pass out or throw up but being unable to do either. All I had to do was reach floor ten, a rest area wasn¡¯t guaranteed but every floor past then was a chance to sleep off the alcohol and get a bit of food to settle my stomach.


    Back in room two and four, the holes were in inconvenient spots, one being at my feet and the either being above my head. This time the hole was at face level, easy to work with and even easier to look into. Which is why I spared a glance inside and noticed something off this time. There were no glowing eyes inside the hole. Then again, normally I wave the shield in front of the hole so perhaps its eyes were closed.


    Testing this out, I shook my shield in front and heard it rattling like before and then backed off and looked inside. Still no red eyes but it was definitely there and quite angry at me. Somehow I could feel it staring at me and it saw me as below it. It was overwhelming how much just looking into that hole was affecting me. Eventually, I snapped out of it and tore my eyes away, out of the corner of my eye I saw something flashing. My shield, the divine symbol on it was glowing off and on for some reason.


    What in the hell did that snake do to me that a divine item had to rescue me? If not for the shield glowing and stopping¡­ something from happening, I would¡¯ve assumed that it was the alcohol getting to me. At that moment, I felt my body sweating all over and not from the heat. I underestimated these snakes because they were so easy to kill. No more looking into the holes, just baiting and bashing.


    As I was still getting ahold of the situation, something unexpected occurred. The snake was no longer content to hide in the wall and came out of its hole. It slid down the wall and onto the floor in a twisting path, heading straight for me and lifting its head up. No eyes, this fucking snake had no eyes, just pits where they were supposed to be. I¡¯m not sure which was worse, glowing red creepy eyes or nothing at all.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Once again, I was looking straight at it and a bad feeling from my gut surfaced. No more looking at it, I thought while bringing up my shield to cover my face. Which was probably a bad idea as it left my lower body open to attack. That attack never came as the snake hissed and backed off, then I saw it from the edge of my shield slithering across the ground around the perimeter of the room, looking for an opening. I followed it with my shield up, preventing the snake from distracting me with its foul magic.


    We were at a stalemate as I couldn¡¯t look directly at it and it was reluctant to come close to me without binding me with its gaze. Or possibly it was avoiding the shield itself. As it had the power to block the snake¡¯s feature, it might have the power to turn the snake away as well. Dark creatures and undead were said to fear the power of the divine. This was probably the most dangerous monster I¡¯ve faced in this dungeon yet, but I had the perfect item to counteract it.


    To test this theory, I took a step in the direction the beast was heading towards to cut it off. In response, it turned around and rerouted around me. Not enough to prove the theory for sure, but enough for me. This was an opportunity, I could use the shield to keep it from attacking me and block its gaze while keeping track of it by its tail so I can strike it with the tree branch. I shall club a dark creature to death with a stick.


    Within a few seconds, I had trapped the creature in somewhat of a corner. It hissed and lashed out a few times in my direction. All feints and nothing substantial. It dared not come close to me. On the other hand, I had free reign and started by trying to press down on the snake¡¯s head. If I did that, it would be immobilized and I could just stomp on its head, dark powers or not it¡¯ll die from a broken head. No such luck as it constantly moved its head around as if it knew what I was trying to do and I couldn¡¯t look directly at it so it was nearly impossible to achieve.


    Side to side it moved, trying to escape its predicament, but I kept blocking its attempt to escape with the shield while moving it closer. Soon enough it stopped lashing out towards me and focused on trying to escape and nearly did so when it started scaling straight up the wall, stopped only by me knocking it down with the branch. Then the shield got so close that all escape routes were blocked and it coiled on itself until it was a ball.


    This made it unable to run and a perfect target as if it had given up on life. I took advantage of this and constantly hit the snake with the branch without as much of an effect as I had hoped. Unlike the other snakes, this one was as hard as a rock and it seemed like I was hurting my arm more than the snake every time I slammed down onto its body. Something finally gave with a loud snapping sound. The tree branch broke in half around the spot I was holding it at. All the damage from the holes and the repeated impacts from being used as a club finally caught up with it.


    Now I could hold a tiny stick that would do nothing or grab the end part of the branch which was too thick to put my hands around and continue bashing it. Problem with that is having to hold it from the top to do any real damage, putting my fingers awfully close to the snake itself. Two options presented themselves to me, risk bashing it more at the expense of losing my fingers or even my life if it¡¯s venomous, or take advantage of its defensive state and run.


    Suddenly, it moved as if to escape its position while my weapon was broken and I was distracted. By reflex, I pushed the shield in closer and it pressed right up against its body with a sizzling noise. Smoke started to rise from behind the shield. This creature was taking damage just from touching the divine shield. So it was not just fear, but the real threat of the divine touch smiting it that kept it away.


    I wasn¡¯t going to let this opportunity go in vain and pressed the entire shield against the snake and pressed down hard to keep it from slipping away. Just a few moments ago it was in the perfect stance to shake off blows from the branch but now it was a deathtrap keeping it pinned down as the shield burned it. Smoke billowed out from below the shield and as I pressed down the shield lowered more and more as the snake was literally being wiped from existence.


    Finally, I felt no resistance at all and moved away from the shield to reveal bare ground. No sign of the snake anywhere. Dead, smitten, destroyed or what not the damn thing was gone and I was happy about it. Screw exploring this dungeon further if this was the kind of thing I¡¯d face. At this point, I¡¯d rather face three normal snakes than one of these dark ones even with the tree branch broken. And with it broken, I couldn¡¯t go any farther into the dungeon. The rest area would have to wait another day and time to test my luck on the surface.


    Time to go back to the surface, or not. A swirling mass of smoke above my head disagreed with my proposal. Even after killing the snake, I now had to fight the smoke given off from killing it. Was it even a snake at this point or an evil spirit. The smoke gathered in the spot where I had killed the snake and congealed together. For a moment I thought it was the snake reforming its body but then I realized it was loot.


    When the smoke cleared, there was a dagger marking the grave of the snake. The very sight of the dagger made me a bit uneasy despite the fact that it was only a bit longer than the bottom of my palm to the end of my middle finger. Emblazoned on its hilt was a skull and it was bad news. Everything about it screamed cursed from the skull to the fact it dropped from a beast wielding foul black magic. Logically, the best thing to do was leave it behind but it drew me in somehow.


    No matter how cursed it was, it¡¯d still be valuable as it looked pretty gnarly. I was drunk and easily influenced so I walked up to it. My last vestige of sanity made me place my shield against the dagger to see if there was a reaction or if my curiosity was from a spell that would be broken with this action. Nothing, no reaction at all. Against my better interests, I picked up the dagger with my free hand, not even trying to use a rag or something so I wouldn¡¯t touch it directly.


    Once I picked it up, I didn¡¯t feel any different. No pain attacking me randomly, no voices speaking into my head trying to get me to kill myself or my friends, and no strange cravings for human flesh. Not that I had ever tasted human flesh so I wouldn¡¯t know even if I had a craving for it. Didn¡¯t seem like I was cursed at all but it was best to check with Jeoffry about this dagger later on.


    With that, there was nothing left for me here. I left behind the tree branch as well. When leaving the dungeon, I didn¡¯t have to kill enemies to make it to the next room so even if new snakes spawn they¡¯ll just sit in the hole as well. Probably best for me to pick up a weapon or two at Jeff¡¯s blacksmith when I trade in this rock. The tree branch was damaged beyond use and I doubt it would be wise to just find another one out in the woods. It worked surprisingly well but constantly broke with every room I entered and wouldn¡¯t be able to last me long enough for room ten onward no matter what I faced in the dungeon.


    I was thinking that I wanted something long range like a spear then something short range like an ax or bludgeon. Versatility was key in a constantly changing environment. Before any of that could be done, I needed to stop by Tom¡¯s bar as it¡¯s the only place I can grab dinner past the usual times and then pass out upstairs using the coins from Jeff. It was probably dark outside by now.


    I stumbled through the rooms. This time it was only five of them. Seemed like I was doing worse every time I entered the dungeon but I hadn¡¯t entered with proper equipment yet. Several times I caught myself leaning against a wall about to pass out and slapped myself to keep going. Keeping my thoughts on getting out of there and what to do next was the only thing preventing me from passing out cold, and likely dead by the time I would¡¯ve woken up.


    I prayed to the goddess blessing my shield that Jerry wouldn¡¯t be there when I got out. And to my surprise when I left the dungeon, it wasn¡¯t Jerry. But it wasn¡¯t no one either. There was someone waiting for me. Tom, the owner of the bar was sitting on the ground just a ways away from the dungeon entrance.

 Chapter 5: An Agreement to Grind

    Tom stood up to greet me as I left the dungeon. He had been sitting there for a while as the grass was pushed down flat where he had been seated. It was now almost nighttime and the busiest time for the bar. How could he be here of all places?


    ¡°Hello old pal, we need to talk,¡± he said then started walking down the path back into town.


    Old? I was younger than him, not by too much but still younger. But it was true that we were friends for a long time. It¡¯s been years since I came here from my old hometown. A washed-up man just past his prime drinking his past away, that¡¯s what I was.


    I followed him back to his bar which was full of people from throughout the town. Jeoffry was behind the bar, passing around food and drinks, taking over while Tom was gone. Jeff was at the counter grabbing a late dinner. A score of other people were getting drunk off a seemingly endless tap of ale, beer, spirits, and whatever else Tom dragged out of his cellar earlier today. Unfortunately, Jerry and his goons were at the bar as well, staring at me.


    Did Tom betray me? If he waited for me outside the dungeon, I assumed he was keeping a lookout for me and trying to help me get away from Jerry and possibly lay low for a few days. Instead, I¡¯m face to face with Jerry and there¡¯s no way I could outrun them to escape out of town or back into the dungeon.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for trying to steal your shield. It won¡¯t happen again,¡± said Jerry to me. Is he actually apologizing for that? Am I supposed to just accept this apology and expect him to not rob me later? I¡¯m not that trusting of people.


    ¡°I can tell you don¡¯t believe me, and I get that. Later on, I¡¯ll make it up to you for that unsightly situation. You see, I saw that shield as a way to achieve my dreams and hastily tried to take it from you rather than properly asking to buy it from you,¡± said Jerry. Was my doubt that visible on my face or did he realize how insincere his words sound?


    ¡°Not that the shield would help even if Jerry bought it. He wants to become a knight under a divine order. And that shield¡¯s divine has no knight affiliations. It¡¯s not even useful for his style of adventuring with the buffs it provides,¡± said Jeoffry, cutting into the conversation. It¡¯d be nice if Jerry would take those words to heart and give up on the shield. As nice as it would be to sell it for a decent amount, it¡¯d be the same as selling off the rest of my lifespan.


    It¡¯s quite the coincidence that Jerry wanted the shield to join a knight order and the very task bound to me by the shield was to create a knight order. As stupid as it sounds, I¡¯m almost tempted to invite Jerry to help me with this task. He¡¯d make for a good first recruit and bring his friends. The first real step towards building a knight order was to have people actually doing things in the name of the order and gathering resources to pool together. However, that had a high chance of backfiring in Jerry¡¯s case as he might just topple me, take the shield, and make the knight order himself without my involvement. Does present the question of whether or not that¡¯d be considered a success in my task if I indirectly had the knight order form by someone else¡¯s hand.


    Not the best type of question to find out the answer to through experience. If I were to tell anyone about the task to have them help out, it would be Tom and/or Jeoffry. Tom because he¡¯s trustworthy and good with his head. Jeoffry because he¡¯s well acquainted with the divine and has real knowledge on how knight orders function. Actually, I could ask them questions about it without even letting them know about the full story.


    ¡°Hey Jeoffry, what do knight orders even do and how did they come about in the first place?¡± I asked as he was relieved by Tom and came back to this side of the bar. A steaming hot bowl of stew was placed in front of him alongside a light beer.


    ¡°I suppose I have time to talk about that while I eat. After all, I got an opportunity to work off a few of my debts and a free meal thanks to your circumstances,¡± said Jeoffry as he started to dig into his food.


    ¡°Knight orders are groups of adventurers who follow the same god or goddess. They tend to share the loot and money that comes from exploring the dungeon and even help take care of monsters on the surface. Any new members would get a lion¡¯s share of the resources to catch up to the rest so knight orders are very picky. The only way to get in for sure is to have an item with their patron divine¡¯s blessing upon it. Not much else beyond that besides convincing normal people like you to worship their divine,¡± said Jeoffry between mouthfuls of food and drink.


    That was a lot simpler than I imagined it to be. Sounds like all that was needed was money. With a bunch of money, I could buy weapons and armor then equip some adventurers who want to join. Then I¡¯ll collect a cut of their rewards from the dungeon for more money to throw at the knight order until it develops into something. The main issue was gathering the funds for that and finding people trustworthy enough to have as knights. The last thing I wanted was to equip an adventurer with a bunch of gear then they run off to another order.


    ¡°Not just that Jeoffry. There¡¯s a matter of ensuring loyalty as well. Long-term members can get enchanted items to help them get stronger and then there are items to cause artificial convergences. As for divine items, knight orders disallow their members from using items blessed by other divines than their patron one, and often give divine items from their divine to members to make it so that they can¡¯t run off to another knight order without giving up a significant part of their strength,¡± said Jerry. Which was actually very useful information. He must¡¯ve put some solid research into the topic.


    If by some chance, I was able to get my hands on a bunch of items blessed by Sanae Patil then it¡¯d be easy to create a loyal knight order from scratch and build up the necessary wealth and resources from their activities. Then again, being wealthy was better than being poor and gathering a bunch of divine items from the dungeon seemed impractical. More likely, I¡¯d have to find people who already have Sanae Patil items and either recruit them or buy the item off them, both would cost a substantial amount of cash.


    ¡°You can trust Jerry on his word for now. Him and his buddies will be banned from this here bar if they turn to banditry again. Which is something I would reluctantly as they¡¯re some of my best customers. They¡¯ve been banned from making bets over a certain amount already. Now would you like something to eat or drink?¡± asked Tom. If he said so, then I suppose I can relax a bit. Tom¡¯s word is worth far more than Jerry¡¯s.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have some of the stew and Jeff might be paying for it. No alcohol. I¡¯ve already drunk enough today. I¡¯m not even sure how I¡¯m still standing or talking at this point,¡± I said to Tom. Not sure what was in his stew because it was different depending on what Tom had on hand, but it had everything I needed to keep going. Meat, vegetables, gravy, and a slice of bread on the side to clean the bowl.


    ¡°Me?¡± asked Jeff while confused. That is until I pulled the rock out from my shirt and passed it over to Jeff. In response, he pulled out enough money to pay for my meal and pocketed it. He said nothing about what it was or its true value.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, you managed to get your hands on some fine stuff down in the rest area. If I was Jerry¡¯s age, I¡¯d be diving down to the rest area every day to help restock my cellar. Did you find anything else down there today since you went in twice?¡± asked Tom.


    For a second, I was going to pull out the dagger I found to show it off but decided not to. That thing looked totally cursed and I shouldn¡¯t give Jerry any reasons to try robbing me again if they realize it''s not and is possibly a dark enchanted item. Sometimes it¡¯s best to just keep my mouth shut. Instead of the dagger, I pulled the booze out and waved it around to show everyone.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Nope, but I imagine everyone is curious about the bottle I found the night I went into the dungeon absolutely hammered. This stuff is a copy of one of Tom¡¯s special brews he rarely takes out that the dungeon somehow recreated from my memories instead of boring old water like most people that get that far,¡± I said to distract people from the dagger. No, more to distract myself from it and the possibility that it might still be cursed or that it would be something others would covet or seek to destroy.


    The rest of the night was a bit of a blur, more from excitement than the alcohol. I finished off my meal then shared a tiny bit of the bottle with everyone there. Then it was a mix of telling stories about the past, gambling, and drinking contests until people dropped or left one by one. For the first time, I actually had a somewhat sober mind while experiencing this and I felt like a spectator as I couldn¡¯t drink anymore without getting sick. The world I always lived in before yet foreign to my eyes.


    When I asked for a room upstairs, Tom let me have one for free and for the first time in what felt like ages, I slept on a proper bed. I just laid on top of the bedsheets fully clothed and shut my eyes. No nightmares came this time, just darkness and morning came seemingly in an instant. There was no hangover and the sun had just risen by the time I woke up. Which was weird as I normally felt like shit and woke up in the afternoon.


    This had to be the work of the shield. How in the hell is this shield not more valuable and why would adventurers go for full-on offensive type enchantments? I could get drunk yet have some clarity in my mind, which I¡¯m not sure whether that¡¯s good or bad, and then wake up like nothing happened the night before. What am I even supposed to do in the morning anyway? I¡¯m not a farmer nor do I have a job. The only thing I had that was somewhat like a profession was entering the dungeon so I guess I¡¯ll do that after breakfast.


    Breakfast is something I haven¡¯t eaten in ages. Normally, I just call a meal breakfast as a joke when I grab a dinner so late it¡¯s pretty much the next day. I walked downstairs and found Tom serving eggs and cabbage to Jeff and Jerry while the rest of the bar was empty. If Tom was up now, when did he ever sleep? I took a seat beside Jeff and he put some coins on the table and pointed at me.


    ¡°Merchant comes next week. This is iron,¡± he said while pulling out the rock I gave him last night. Did that mean that the offer with the copper stood with this hunk of iron as well? He¡¯s technically ripping me off but if I pay him back I can make a bit of profit with the merchant. It¡¯s nice that he¡¯s paying for my food and such, but I would much rather get a proper weapon from him.


    ¡°Besides that, would you happen to have a good spear along with a mace, bludgeon, or ax I could buy or rent?¡± I asked Jeff.


    ¡°He doesn¡¯t rent weapons, only sells since they¡¯re guaranteed to come back in poor condition or not at all. I¡¯ve got some spare weapons I can get you if you help me with something. I¡¯ll even give you some advice on the dungeon,¡± said Jerry from the other side of Jeff. I purposely sat here so he wouldn¡¯t talk to me to no avail.


    ¡°What sort of advice and what¡¯s in it for you?¡± I asked back. Fact was that Jerry¡¯s expertise on the dungeon was invaluable to me, but I wasn¡¯t sure if I could trust him fully even with Tom stepping in yesterday.


    ¡°I bet you just walk in a straight line through the dungeon until you can¡¯t go any further then scurry out as fast as you can. You¡¯re acting like the way the dungeon wants you to act, not taking advantage of the way things work. Heck, I bet you¡¯ve never even heard of the wheat grind method. I can help you and in exchange share a bit of your luck with me and pay me back in some of the loot you find using the methods I¡¯ll teach you,¡± said Jerry.


    It was a fairly reasonable exchange. I¡¯d get some of his spare weapons he¡¯s not even using at the moment and he¡¯ll share some info that might already be common knowledge. And in return, he¡¯d make a profit off my ventures by having three people doing the dungeon and passing the loot to him instead of two. He has the definite advantage in these negotiations and only loses out if I die in the dungeon.


    At the same time, nobody but him knew this sort of thing in town so I had no one else to ask without making an arduous day-long trip to the next town over. And I would lose nothing that I had at the time, just future stuff. If by chance I picked up something more valuable like the dagger, I could just hide it away and pay Jerry back exclusively with things like rocks and ores. A lot of time and even money would be saved by working with Jerry just this one time and if lucky I could break it off within a few days.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll take you up on that offer as long as you don¡¯t try anything funny,¡± I said as a plate was put before me by Tom. Since eggs are often eaten fresh from the coop, I hadn¡¯t eaten any in ages and immediately dug into it. While I was eating Jeff finished his meal and left, giving me a clear view of Jerry who was smiling for some reason.


    ¡°A divine item and two ores within only three trips into the dungeon, quite the luckbag you are. Be sure to share a bit of that luck with me these coming days. If that luck holds up, it¡¯s infinitely better to be your friend than to rob you,¡± said Jerry, laying his thoughts bare to me. I hoped I was as lucky as his words implied as I¡¯d need luck in the coming days.


    After a hearty breakfast, I left the bar with Jerry against my better judgment and met with his two friends outside. Their names were apparently Chris and Matt. Common names to have and I doubt I¡¯d remember them for long. Chris accompanied us as we walked to the dungeon while Matt ran back to his place to grab some spare weapons for me.


    ¡°What¡¯s this wheat grind method you mentioned before?¡± I asked on the way. Jerry tapped Chris on the shoulder and nodded, having him explain instead.


    ¡°Well, two generations ago there was this baker from a few towns over who realized something about the nature of dungeons. There is no need to go deep into the dungeon nor do you have to keep the dungeon given to you. So, he would enter the dungeon repeatedly until he found a monster that he could easily defeat, then just wait in the first room for another monster to spawn and kill that too. Monsters will start to spawn faster and faster and he was able to bring back some loot almost every day, sometimes multiple loot per day. It was like putting a bunch of wheat into a grinder and then watching as its grinded down into fine flour over the course of a few hours,¡± said Chris, explaining the method quite enthusiastically.


    ¡°If people can do that, what¡¯s the point of going deeper into the dungeon?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Better loot and a higher chance of loot dropping of course,¡± responded Chris.


    So this is what Jerry and his friends did all day. They were never in any sort of danger with the dungeon. Instead, approaching the dungeon in a low-risk way that still rewarded their efforts occasionally. It was a stark contrast to how I had been dealing with the dungeon. Almost dying on the later floors while they twiddled their thumbs on the earliest floors. If not for the fact they might find out about the enchanted dagger, I would ask them about whether special monsters came out occasionally.


    ¡°There¡¯s also the fishing method built upon the wheat grind by you guessed it, a fisherman of the same generation. He would go as far as he could in the dungeon and then go back a bit then wait for monsters at a happy medium. Like a fisherman casting his line then reeling it in a bit to attract the fish. The dungeon treats it like he¡¯s trying to escape and throws monster spawns faster and the chances of loot are a bit higher since he¡¯s not in the first room. The only downside is that there¡¯ll be one or two monsters to fight in each of the rooms back to the surface,¡± said Jerry. He really was keeping his end of the deal so far, teaching me how to take on the dungeon in a way that¡¯d produce profits without too much risk.


    Once we reached the entrance of the dungeon, Matt was already there with a spear and bludgeon, both in moderate to poor condition. They were spare weapons after all, cheap, disposable, and already used a few times so a few nicks and dents couldn¡¯t be helped. Better than a broken bottle or tree branch that was for sure.


    ¡°If only we had an artificial convergence device, we could enter the dungeon together. Farewell and good luck with your ventures into the dungeon you three. Until the day we can join a knight order or stand equal to them!¡± shouted Jerry before hopping into the dungeon. Chris and Matt quickly followed.


    People couldn¡¯t enter dungeons in groups normally, the dungeon would split them up into different rooms and different dungeons. Occasionally, on later floors, two dungeons will combine into one in a convergence and two adventurers from other sides of the world could meet up and fight monsters together, or kill each other. Some rare enchanted items could simulate this effect from room one and bring multiple people from one entrance to the same dungeon. That was what Jerry was talking about.


    Not sure if I should test out one of the methods taught to me or just explore the dungeon normally. I guess I could figure that out once I went in there and see what the dungeon holds for me today. This time I was prepared with proper weapons. I took a sip of the liquor for good luck and entered the dungeon once again.

 Chapter 6: Loaned Weapons and the Rat Grind

    The dungeon this time was similar to the time I woke up hungover. Gray rock walls that were slightly cooler than the outside world but not too cold. In the middle of the room was the monster, a white bird about the size of a crow. In such a cramped space, I doubted its ability to fly well. It didn¡¯t even move, watching my every move with its eyes while sitting still.


    I set down the bludgeon off to the side so my shield would be ready if it counterattacked then readied my spear for a lunge. Right as I thrust the spear, the bird flapped its wings and lifted off, dodging my spear. There it somehow hovered in the air just by stretching out its wings. No wind nor was there any kind of movement or flapping of its wings beyond the initial time. It¡¯s as if the bird was frozen in time mid-flight.


    Once, twice, twice I tried skewering it on the end of my spear but every time it missed as it dodged in every direction, up down, left, right, and it even backed away a few times to avoid my attacks. Not once did it ever try to get close to me or attack. The spear obviously wasn¡¯t working out so I dropped it and picked up the bludgeon. As fast as it was, dodging a bludgeon at close range was unlikely.


    Keeping my shield up, I approached the bird. In response, it flew over my head and got behind me. Before I could turn around to face it, I felt a stinging pain on my back. I flipped around and swung my bludgeon at random, missing the bird but forcing it to back off. Blood dripped down from its talons. When I was focused on keeping my shield up to block any attacks from the front, it used its mobility to claw my back.


    This was no easy opponent. Even if I killed this thing, I wouldn¡¯t want to stick around to wait for another to spawn or continue onwards to fight more instantly. No wheat grinding, no fishing, and not even trying to get to the rest area. What was the point of staying in this dungeon any further?


    If it wasn''t for the fact that the monster was currently blocking the exit to the dungeon, I''d have already bailed out. I felt like a cornered rat as I couldn''t leave nor could I go further into the dungeon. And if I let my guard down for even a second, or rather kept my guard up too much, it''d strike me where I couldn''t stop it. Mobility and intelligence was this monster''s quirk.


    Last time it acted because I got too close and had my shield up in front of my eyes, blocking my eyesight. Perhaps going towards it without the shield in the way would make it move. Or I could use the spear again and try to herd it to the side by aiming slightly to the side to push it to dodge the opposite way. Yet, given the opportunity, I would rush out of the dungeon so I couldn''t just drop the bludgeon. Would be nice if I had some way to keep the weapon I wasn''t using strapped to my back or waist until I needed it.


    I picked up the spear off the ground and kept the bludgeon in my off hand with my shield. Then wave the spear around in front of me, not even bothering to thrust with it. The bird dodged to the left so I walked around the perimeter of the room to the right, continuing to wave it just to the left of the monster. Right as I managed to get halfway to the exit, the bird suddenly stopped dodging to the left and flew above the spear. Then it flew straight towards my face with its talons facing forward.


    They got bigger and bigger in my eyes. I lifted up my spear and bludgeon as fast as I could and just barely stopped its charge. Not that it hit me or my weapons. Instead, it flew up and tried to get me from a blind spot again. Thankfully I was on the edge of the room with my back pretty much pressed against the wall so it couldn¡¯t get at me. It flew all around me, trying to find a gap while I used the spear and bludgeon to guard each of these areas. Meanwhile, I started sliding towards the exit carefully whenever it paused in the air.


    After what seemed like an hour-long stalemate, I took a step backward and slipped out of the dungeon without any more trouble. Back on the surface where I no longer had to fear getting my eyes gouged out or talons scratching my body, I sat down and took a short rest in the grass. I wasn¡¯t the only one there, Matt from Jerry¡¯s group was also seated on the other side of the dungeon entrance.


    ¡°Bad luck with what the dungeon threw at you? Same as me. At some point, you get so used to the bullshit the dungeon throws at you occasionally that you hop right out as soon as you see a sign that things won¡¯t be easy. Unusually hot temperatures, constant rain inside the room, armored monsters, monsters not visible immediately, and more. The list goes on and on, endlessly some people say,¡± said Matt.


    What he said reminded me of the dungeon with the snakes hiding in holes and the lizard one with the constant cold. They really were unfair without the right preparations and luck. Before I just brute forced my way through such obstacles and didn¡¯t even consider the fact that I could leave and come back with everything different. Without the knowledge taught to me by Jerry and Chris, would I have still left that dungeon or insist on fighting that bird? It was definitely worth consulting the three of them whenever I could.


    ¡°Hey Matt, should I get a belt or something to keep the weapon I¡¯m not using on my back or something? It¡¯s kinda hard to fight while keeping track of both of these,¡± I asked. That was a pretty major issue in the previous fight as I couldn¡¯t really use my shield when I was trying to leave.


    ¡°Just use a strip of cloth and tie it to yourself. Might as well just tear a strip of cloth from your shirt or something for it. They¡¯re pretty much rags already with all those stains and wear. I¡¯ve got a knife so I can help you out with that right now,¡± said Matt while walking towards me.


    The problem with that is the dagger right below my shirt and if it¡¯s not long enough to tuck in, I won¡¯t be able to store things in my shirt. In fact, I should¡¯ve gotten a bag or pockets on my pants. Would be worth checking into later. Overall, I couldn¡¯t let him help me with this and had to do it myself, preferably in the bushes or in the dungeon. Could just say I¡¯m going to the bathroom or doing it later.


    ¡°No thanks, I can handle it myself,¡± I said to stop him.


    ¡°Alright, suit yourself. I¡¯m heading back inside to see if I can get a good setup,¡± said Matt while walking back into the dungeon. Surprisingly how easily he gave up after I said his help wasn¡¯t needed. Wouldn¡¯t people normally insist on helping while thinking I was only saying that to be polite or out of pride?


    Either way, the only blades I had were the dagger and the spear, with the spear being a bit awkward to cut cloth with and a bit dull on the sides. Between the dungeon and the bushes, I chose to re-enter the dungeon. If I faced anything flying or some other shit, I¡¯d immediately exit instead of trying to fight it first. Then use the time until the next spawn to whip up a makeshift belt from my sleeves or pants to preserve my shirt¡¯s tuckability.


    Despite my injuries, fresh on my back and my still healing shoulder, I entered the dungeon once again and found my surroundings to be brown. Felt more like dirt than rock as if I was just below the surface. It even felt a bit damp and soft like the ground after a light rainfall. As for the monster, it was a rat. Not a ratman like before, but a normal rat like the normal lizard. Anything but normal with its huge size but otherwise indistinguishable from its animal counterpart. In fact, it was larger than the lizards who were the size of a small to medium-sized dog. This ratbeast was the size of a large dog.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Part of me wanted to bail right then and there because such a big rat was bound to be strong. At the same time, it had seemingly no special characteristics so it should have been possible to kill it with a well-placed spear. A loud squeak could be heard as the massive rat scurried towards me. I dropped the club again and readied the spear before me. Like the lizards before, the rat came to me without any reservations and ran right into the spear all by itself. I positioned it so it would hit the spear with its head and dropped it right as I felt any impact to keep myself from shredding my arm and shoulder from the force.


    The result was a still very much alive rat with a spear sticking out of its forehead squirming all over the place and trying to pull it out. Which meant my spear could break at any moment if it even rolled a bit funny. Left with no other choice, I picked up my club and walked up to the beast. It paused its struggle to snarl at me but was unable to stop me as I bashed it on the head just above where the spear was lodged. The impact caused the rat to fall onto its side and violently shake its limbs.


    Still wasn¡¯t dead. To finish the job, I walked over and slammed the bludgeon hard on its shoulder to stop its front leg from moving so much. Then pulled out the spear from its forehead, stepping on its chest for the leverage to pull it out. Even with all that it still breathed so I stabbed deep into its exposed chest with the spear multiple times. Finally, it was dead.


    For some reason, I decided to stay in the dungeon instead of leaving. The monster was surprisingly easy to beat despite its size even if it did take some time to fully kill. And the weapons provided to me managed to do quite well, suffering barely any damage, though the spear was now covered in blood and guts.


    The bludgeon was pretty much an upgraded version of the tree branch I had yesterday. It was a tree log carved into an easy to handle shape that was topheavy enough to deal serious damage when swung around. However, what set it apart from a mere stick, was the two strips of metal nailed around the top of it in a circle. While thin, the metal helped keep the bludgeon intact while making it harder and dish out more of a punch. The concept was similar to the rings around a barrel.


    While the spear was a long, rounded strip of wood with a metal top. Wasn¡¯t too sure how it kept on the end, but I suspected it had something to do with either nails or strong glue. Whatever kept it together wasn¡¯t visible on the outside. The blade was a triangle that looked somewhat like an arrowhead but a bit longer and rounded on the sides. Both the wood and spearhead were able to survive the impact from the rat¡¯s head which made them quite durable. For spare weapons, they were of good quality.


    Some time passed and no new rats spawned so I sat down and decided to work on either a belt for his bludgeon or shoulder strap for the spear. My sleeves were a bit thin and hard to work with so I took off my pants and readied the dark dagger. Such a menacing weapon¡¯s first use was in amateur tailoring. Just the thought of that amused me as I started cutting from the bottom up in a spiral pattern. The hardest part had been keeping the resulting strip of cloth from being too thick or thin and in the end, it was very uneven.


    In the process, I lost the bottom part of one of the legs on my pants and gained a new belt. After all, in this dungeon, I¡¯d be using the spear first then the bludgeon. Immediately, I tested it out by tying the bludgeon to my waist and taking a few steps forward. It did get in the way of walking a bit but more or less worked as intended. At that moment, I was ready for anything. Unfortunately, nothing happened at that moment nor the next, nor for a while.


    At least half an hour passed before a new rat spawned from the wall. First came a hand that was more of a claw popping out of the wall from seemingly nowhere and scratching around. Then came another trying to grab onto something to get the leverage to pull the rest of its body through. By that time, I had gotten up and prepared my spear as I heard the scratching noise from these claws.


    A head phased through the wall as if the wall didn¡¯t even exist and screeched at me. Then a thought occurred to me, ¡°Do I really have to wait for it to come out?¡± And like that, I approached the half-born beast and planted my spear right in its eye.


    The beast wailed constantly as I twisted the spear and gouged out its eye. Then I did the same to the other eye, blinding it. I could have shoved it even deeper into the eye socket, stabbing into its brain and killing it. But I wasn¡¯t sure if that would count as killing it properly and allow me to collect any loot. After all, it wasn¡¯t done spawning. Wounding it would have to do until it came out completely.


    Five minutes of constant screeching later, the rat had made it into the room fully and was struggling to do anything as it bled from its eye sockets. I knocked the beast onto its side with my foot and it offered up no resistance. To give it a clean death rather than muck up my spear again, I pulled the dagger out from my shirt and used it to slit the rat¡¯s throat. As soon as the dagger cut its throat open, a cascade of blood pooled out and the rat ceased its struggle.


    Another monster was down in a way that almost felt unfair. Then again, switching places the monster would offer me no mercy in a disadvantaged situation. Many more monsters would die by my hands in the coming days and from their flesh would come the resources I needed to live my life fully.


    The next rat came after fifteen or so minutes and I repeated my actions from before. It was a most effective way of dispatching the monster. Incapacitating them from pain by wounding them and then killing them while they were down.


    Ten minutes was all it took for the next one. Then five minutes. Four, three, two, and finally one rat entered the room every minute and never sooner. The small room filled up with giant rats that began rapidly decaying and disappearing at a speed just barely keeping up with the rate new corpses joined the floor.


    It wasn¡¯t until the number of dead rats climbed to one hundred did an item finally drop. A gray ore like what I had found yesterday, possibly iron or some other similar ore. Just one ore wasn¡¯t enough and I killed more and more. Such little rewards for so much death, that was the wheat grind method. However, there was pretty much no risk for these rewards and my skill with the spear got better and better, at least better at hitting stationary targets in a weak spot properly.


    After two hundred more rats, I finally got a second ore that seemed exactly the same as the first and decided to leave the dungeon. It had been hours since I had entered and I¡¯ve had pretty much no rest with how fast the spawns got. Hours of constant work with only two ores to speak for it. At this point, it seemed more reasonable to try out the fishing technique or just aim for the rest area if I got weak enough monsters as the wheat grind method was just excessive in my opinion.


    When I left the dungeon I found Jerry, Chris, and Matt all standing outside, probably waiting for me. Without saying a word they started heading back to town while waving at me to follow. Not sure why as it was still late afternoon and there was plenty of time to enter the dungeon.


    ¡°Let¡¯s grab some lunch,¡± said Jerry as I started following them. Lunch? I¡¯ve eaten it plenty of times especially as the first meal of the day, but I wasn¡¯t too hungry just yet. Normally, I only ate twice a day and breakfast was still holding me together. Maybe I would find myself the room for a few bites by the time I got to Tom¡¯s place.


    What surprises me the most is that Jerry didn¡¯t ask if I managed to find anything in the dungeon, nor did he insist on searching me for loot. Not sure how he expected to get a cut of my loot without asking for it and untrustworthy types weren¡¯t really trusting people. Then again, maybe what Tom said to them still held some weight and they¡¯d just accept anything I gave them until they felt like they were paid back or got a fair trade.

 Chapter 7: Cutting between the Edges

    Tom¡¯s bar was filled up with people grabbing a late breakfast and lunch. Amazingly enough, within the hour all of these people would leave and the only ones left would be the late afternoon drinkers. In the past, all this activity was usually the thing that started to wake me up after passing out cold in the bar after a good night of drinking. Then by the time I shook off the grogginess, everyone was gone.


    For the first time, I was a part of this lunchtime rush hour with Jerry and friends showing me the way to participate. They pushed through the crowd of people and shouted out an order for four people to Tom while throwing some coins down on the counter. Tom scooped the coins up with practiced ease and continued cooking. He had a rotisserie cooking up a bunch of freshly butchered chickens with a pan on the side frying some onions and peppers. Every so often he would slice off some meat from one of the chickens, and put on a plate with a scoop of the onions and peppers with a slice of bread on the side.


    It was a luxurious and filling meal. One that was only possible due to this town''s location and the many years of good harvests. The so-called merchant that Jeff mentioned before was actually a large caravan of merchants bringing goods from the South to the capital and vice versa. If not for the fact there was already a city slightly to the north of town that the caravan also passed through, then this town might have seen some major development and become a city. Instead, it was a fairly wealthy pit stop.


    It took a few minutes for portions to be placed before us as Tom had to serve the people who got here first. But it was worth the wait as more food than I could eat was placed before me, overwhelming me with the smell. Within a moment, I went from not being hungry to feeling like I was starving. All of the ingredients were scooped up onto the bread and eaten like a sandwich.


    Even with my sudden burst of hunger, I was only able to eat half of it before I had to set it down and retire from eating. The other three left not even a scrap of food on their plates. Not sure if it was due to their age that they were able to fit all that, all of their hard work every day making them need more food, or just that they were used to eating three meals a day. My thoughts on it were that all three applied.


    Tom picked up my plate and pushed my leftovers into a nearby pot. Tonight¡¯s dinner was whatever people didn¡¯t eat from lunch turned into a stew with maybe an extra ingredient thrown in for a bit of variety. There was no wasting of food in this establishment.


    ¡°You¡¯ll have to pay me back for lunch later as our relationship is purely business for now. No free rides until you prove yourself. Same with that spear. It¡¯s covered in blood and looks like you did a number on it. If you don¡¯t want to pay for a new one, clean it up and sharpen it. We have to establish how our relationship is in these next few days so we don¡¯t argue over little things later on,¡± said Jerry, which was fairly reasonable. I suppose they thought I had no money on hand so they¡¯re paying for my lunch and expecting to be paid back for it.


    ¡°I understand,¡± I said.


    Actually, I still have the silver from Jeff but I¡¯d rather hold onto it for now and keep it for emergencies. Every time I didn¡¯t spend it and used other people¡¯s money, I would rack up a bit more debt but it ensured that I could pay it back to Jeff and make even more money from selling the copper to the merchants and possibly the iron too. Speaking of iron, the ores I picked up that day were probably iron as well if not a similar looking ore. Jeff paid for two of my meals after receiving it so I actually had made a bit of a profit that day despite Jerry upping my debt with the meal.


    ¡°Let¡¯s now state how much we¡¯ve gotten from the dungeon so far today, starting from left to right,¡± said Jerry. I was on the far right and would go last it seemed.


    ¡°I¡¯ve managed to get a single ore and its reddish brown in color, possibly copper but more likely to be iron,¡± said Matt. Iron? When I had iron before, it was grayish in color. But now that I think about it, it¡¯s normally red in color. Did Jeff lie to me about what it was?


    ¡°Good job. Even if it¡¯s iron, since it¡¯s red in color you know the purity is higher than that impure gray iron with other metals mixed in,¡± said Jerry, which answered my question.


    ¡°I¡¯ve gotten nothing at all. I was doing the wheat grind method but I screwed up and had a troublesome monster so I had to leave the dungeon before I could get any loot,¡± said Chris. That explains why Matt talked about leaving at even the slightest sign it¡¯d be troublesome. Chris was able to defeat the monster easily enough but struggled when the spawns went down to one per minute. And since he left, the spawns would reset and he¡¯d have to wait like an hour until it went back to being one per minute.


    ¡°I would scold you for being so irresponsible, but the same thing happened to me so let¡¯s write it off as bad luck and try again tonight. My ax got a nasty chip in it today so we¡¯ll take an hour break as I get Jeff to fix it. Got anything to add old man?¡± Jerry asked.


    ¡°I got two ores while using the wheat grind method,¡± I said while pulling out the ores in question.


    ¡°I¡¯m full but it seems like I¡¯ll have to eat my words, your lunch is free today and your choice whether to use those for yourself or trade them in to knock down your debt. Since they¡¯re from room one they¡¯re pretty much guaranteed to be impure iron mixed with something like tin or nickel,¡± said Jerry. I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this, but I¡¯m starting to like the way Jerry does things.


    ¡°How much of my debt would they wipe?¡± I asked, after all, he said himself that we need to establish our relationship.


    ¡°The amount of iron in those ores would be enough to buy a used bludgeon from Jeff¡¯s store if you had three of them or a spear if you had five of them. Add on one ore as interest and it adds up to nine ores for that. So it¡¯d knock off almost a quarter of your debt when it comes to your loaned weapons alone,¡± said Jerry. It was a straightforward way of stating it that was easier to understand than talking in coin. Plus I could double check those prices next time I bumped into Jeff easily enough.


    That sounded good enough and I¡¯d rather not carry these around in my shirt for too long, they were rough and rubbed against my skin wrong. I passed the ores over to Jerry and made a mental note about the fact that I owed him seven more of these ores, or less if I could get something of higher quality. I bet Matt was doing fishing in order to get that ore based on what Jerry said. Then again, I managed to get copper ore in the first room of the dungeon after my hangover.


    Maybe I shouldn¡¯t take everything they say as fact but rather what¡¯s considered to be normal. There are obvious exceptions to what they¡¯ve said so far. It was up to me to distinguish between what they say and what actually happens. For now, I had an hour or so long break and had to figure out what to do. The most appealing action was to take a nap after such a nice meal but it was important to clean my spear before the blood dried and set in.


    The four of us dispersed to do our own thing, promising to continue going down the dungeon within the hour. Chris walked towards the dungeon to get a head start on us since he screwed up earlier while Matt walked up to a nearby tree and took a nap. As much as I¡¯d like to emulate Matt, I walked down to the river and started scrubbing the gore off the spear with my hands.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    I made sure to avoid cutting myself on the edges and most of the blood came off within a few dips and a bit of elbow grease. Once I was done, I made sure to dry the spearhead with my shirt to keep it from rusting. I didn¡¯t have anything to sharpen the spear at the moment but there should have been some sharpening stones at Jeff¡¯s place I could buy later. At the moment, it was better to keep using it as is and focus on a more thorough cleaning and sharpening at the end of the day, after I was done with the dungeon for the day.


    There was nothing else to really do, so I took a bath and washed my clothes since I was already at the river, then took a short nap to help digest my meal. So far, the day had been quite good. To think that only three or four days ago, I had been getting drunk out of my mind every day and not really doing anything besides the occasional work to help pay off my debts. By the end of this month, perhaps I¡¯d have no debts at all and an even better life than now.


    It was time to get back to work so I could achieve that lofty goal. I walked back to the dungeon to find Matt just entering the dungeon. Maybe he had finished his nap just now or maybe he had already challenged the dungeon a few times and was searching for the right opponent. Either way, I followed his example and walked into the dungeon.


    This time the dungeon was surprisingly dark with black walls and barely any light. The little light that came from the torch above seemed dimmed by its surroundings. Just this fact alone tempted me to leave the dungeon as it was ominous. What stopped me from doing so was the fact that the monster was clearly visible and very slow. It looked like a cross between a turtle and an insect.


    On its back was a hard, spiked shell with only small gaps between each segment. Coming out of the shell was a set of legs slowly dragging its body forward and a long head. Its neck and head were as long as the shell on its back and constantly snapped its mouth at me. The thing was aggressive but painfully slow. Then again, this is probably what Matt meant by armored. There was no doubt that attacking its shell was a bad idea while its head and legs were a weak point.


    I approached this strange creature and tried stabbing it with my spear as it came into range, but its head disappeared. In an instant, their head and legs were sucked back into its shell and my spear hit empty air. And then, for all its aggressiveness, it didn¡¯t do a damn thing. It refused to come back out of its shell until I backed off. Then went back in as soon as I approached with my spear.


    It was smart enough to recognize that it was at the disadvantage and hid within its armor. However, why would it walk towards me in the first place if only to hide away? Logic-wise, it made no sense. Then again, talking about logic in the dungeon was illogical in the first place. The smart thing to do was to take Matt¡¯s advice and leave since it was armored, but I had my doubts about what he said and I was curious about this thing.


    I walked around to the back of the shell where I could get close without its head being able to reach me if it suddenly decided to come out to attack. This thing was about the size of the jumping lizards from before so it wasn¡¯t too big. With a few bashes of my bludgeon, I confirmed that its shell was heavy armor as it did not even flinch from these attacks. Trying to push the blade of my spear between the cracks in its armor did nothing either. There definitely was flesh and I poked it a few times but it was too thick to do real damage between the plates of armor.


    One thing that could possibly fit was the dagger from before. I pulled it out and slid it between the plates and finally got deep enough to cut into the bugger and draw blood. Then suddenly, its head flopped out of the shell. I didn¡¯t miss the opportunity to grab my bludgeon and slam it down on the creature. Within a second, the creature¡¯s brains were bashed and all it took was shocking it a bit by cutting it while it was in its shell still.


    For Matt, this dungeon would be quite difficult to deal with. But for me and this new method, it was the perfect place. Even if I faced two of these things, they were so slow that I could isolate and take them out one by one. Wheat grinding was possible but unreasonable, fishing could work quite well, and with the ability to take on two at once, I finally had the chance to reach the rest area. Which was now the plan, get to the rest area and then try fishing on the way back or if getting to the rest area fails.


    In the next room, I waved my spear around the head of the beast to make it hide then walked around to its back. With the swipe of my knife, its back was cut and its head was thrown into the open where I could finish it off. It did not take more than a minute. This was too easy. Such was the nature of the dungeon, sometimes it was hard and other times it was easy. The armor and menacing look to the place almost threw me off and made me leave but I stayed and profited from that decision.


    When I went through the motions in the third room, something weird happened. The turtle insect thingy came back out after being scared once and turned around to face me. In the process, it almost earned a new breathing hole from my spear before it went back into its shield and stayed there. That wasn¡¯t the weird thing as I wasn¡¯t putting much effort into scaring it with my shield. The weird part was that the portal that took me to the next room appeared before I was done.


    I was about to club it over the head with my bludgeon when I saw the portal appear and stop. A few seconds later, I realized the beast was already dead. How was it already dead? Was its flesh between its shell a weak point that caused instant death or was it the dagger itself. After all, it was a dark enchanted dagger so cutting into the beast once might be killing it through its dark magic. Magic could be the weak point of these armored enemies.


    The only way to know for sure was to test it out in the next few rooms to see if it instantly kills them. In the first two rooms, my back was to the portal leading to the next rooms so I may or may not have bashed in their brains in vain. Not totally in vain as it made me feel better.


    Within five minutes, I was at the portal that lead to room seven, preparing myself to face two of these enemies at once. In the three rooms since then, I had instantly killed all of the monsters with the dagger. If not for the fact that the dagger was so short, I would be seriously considering using it as my main weapon. Who knew how effective its dark element would be against normal monsters?


    Every room I had passed seemed to be darker than the last as well. Which meant that it¡¯d probably just get darker and darker until there was no visibility at all. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t use this dagger to get myself to super high floors against these weak enemies. All I could do was hope that it was enough to beat multiple turtle things and reach the rest area before rooms got too dark to properly fight.


    Room seven was just as I expected it to be. A slightly darker and larger room than six with two turtles instead of one. Both immediately began charging me and I decided the best strategy was to just try and deal with one while they were spread apart then deal with the other at my leisure. The one on my right happened to be a bit closer to me so I set my sights on it.


    The usual spear feint got it into its shield and before the other turtle had even gotten close, I had dispatched its friend. Time to finish off the second as I waved my spear around its face. But it simply ignored my spear and kept charging. Which forced me to back off a bit, lest it got too close and had the chance to attack me. Then I tried a full-on spear thrust to intimidate it more or stab it if it refused to hide.


    The damn thing moved its head to the side and my spear missed. My second thrust was aimed at the base of my neck that couldn¡¯t move too much. It had the choice to get hit or retreat and it chose to get hit. Blood sprayed onto the ground as my spear dug deep into its neck and it finally tried to go back into its shell, which the spear in its neck prevented. It struggled fruitlessly to hide away and pull out the spear and then flopped to the side weakly.


    To put it out of its suffering I came closer with the bludgeon. Right as I started lowering myself down to bash it over the head, it suddenly reached its head out and tried to bite me in my face. A wild animal¡¯s last hurray before death. Fortunately for me, it didn¡¯t reach and when it flopped back down on the ground I finished it off before it could do anything else.


    Like that, floor seven was cleared in relative ease. Hopefully, the turtle only reacted that way because it saw me kill its friend and that wasn¡¯t its usual behavior. If the turtles became more aggressive and less likely to hide with every room, then a part of my advantage was lost. However, if it was only learning from seeing my actions, then I could simply scare both turtles into their shells right next to each other and kill both and once with a bit of herding.

 Chapter 8: A Taste of Home

    Room eight was the same as room seven, two enemies slowly coming towards me. I waited for them to get closer together so I could try taking them out both at once. The bigger problem was the amount of light in the room. Their shells were black and they started to blend in with the room¡¯s surroundings more and more. I could barely see the lines on the palm of my hand even with it right in front of my face. Light was fading fast and I would eventually have to fight these enemies through sound and feeling around their shells if I kept going indefinitely.


    I walked around the room as the chased me, herding them until they were right next to each other. Then I stabbed towards both their heads with a single spear thrust. Both fled to the safety of their shells and neither came out when I got behind them. The first one died as I cut into its shell and before the other could react, I killed it as well. Just as planned.


    This was proof that I could handle rooms with two of these enemies without any trouble. Which solidified my goal of reaching the rest area to grab some more alcohol. The thought alone made me thirsty and I pulled out the booze and took a large gulp of it. Before I had been trying to avoid drinking any more of it since it was getting low, but now I¡¯d be getting a refill complements of the dungeon.


    The Ninth room was cleared within a few minutes without any issues and I went into the tenth hoping it would contain a rest area. Instead of a rest area, I found myself in another open room with three of the turtle monsters. The room itself was much larger than the ninth room as well. By entering a room in the double digits, I found that things had started to step up. It had taken seven rooms for the amount of enemies to get to two and only three rooms for three enemies. If this pattern continued to escalate, then before I found the rest area I would find myself stuck in a room with dozens of turtle monsters I could barely see.


    I had lucked out the first time, waking up in a rest area on the tenth room. This time it was going to be a bit more difficult. Anywhere from the tenth floor to the thirtieth, the rest area could be at. That was a lot of rooms and a lot of enemies to fight. Although the enemies were easy enough to fight, killing tons of them at once would be hard even with this method and the darkness would make it near impossible. How was I supposed to fight these monsters if I didn¡¯t even know how many there were or where they were?


    Within a few minutes, I discovered that the method I was using before already wasn¡¯t working. While trying to herd the monsters, two of them grouped up just fine while the third one kept its distance from its others while still trying to get closer to me. Left with no other choice, I started by scaring the two grouped ones and dispatching them with the dagger, then I readied my spear to strike down the third while it refused to hide.


    The result was basically the same as floor seven, it made a motion to dodge with its head to the side but I stabbed its lower neck and then clubbed it over the head before it even had the chance to bite at me. I couldn¡¯t imagine how hard this would be if there were four of these beasts and the fourth one learned from me stabbing at the base of the neck and mixed up its strategy. Once I entered the eleventh room, I realized that I was given the chance to test this out.


    Two of them stayed grouped together while the other two skirted the perimeter of the room, which actually would¡¯ve prevented me from being able to navigate around them if I couldn¡¯t just scare the two in the middle. These terrifying beasts not only learned from my attacks but tried to make up for their slow speed by cornering me and limiting my mobility. Not that it worked this time around as I took out the two grouped ones then ignored one of the outliers to take out the third one by lodging my spear in its neck.


    As I expected when I approached the fourth one, it immediately hid in its shell rather than letting me stab it in the neck. Which meant I¡¯d just go back to the original strategy, if not for the fact that as soon I went around to its back it let out its legs and rotated towards me. Just the legs and not the head. However, that was enough to make me a bit uneasy. I saw how fast it could go into its shell and it stood to reason it could come out just as fast.


    I wasn¡¯t even sure if I could stab it in the shell without it coming out of the shell and attacking me. After all, its head was extremely long and could reach behind it if it tried. And since it was using only its legs, I couldn¡¯t really hit it with my spear that well. Since it was rotating so slowly I could still get behind it without any trouble.


    The issue was whether to risk leaning down close to stab it in the back. It wasn¡¯t like I could use the dagger from very far away or throw it. A few feints to see if it could tell where I was behind it and if I could get close without being in danger seemed to be my best bet. Using my spear, I tapped on its back a few times and its head sprouted out from its shell and lifted up so far that it was looking at me upside down.


    Thankfully it seemed there was no way for it to see behind me and I managed to put it back into its shell with a spear thrust. Then I leaned down behind it with a dagger. Just to be safe, I chose a spot lower down on its back and tried to stab down only for the space between the plates of armor to suddenly close up while its head suddenly lunged at me. Within a second it had twisted its body and shell to face towards and went for my neck. My hands were already full with my spear in my right hand and the dagger in my left.


    In order to block this attack, I was forced to drop the dagger and fell backward. The turtle bit onto the top of the shield and tugged on it, trying to move it out of the way. The straps keeping it tied to my arm kept it from doing so and I struggled to keep it in front of me. With my right hand, I gripped the spear close to the spearhead and stabbed into its neck multiple times at close range without much effect. Its skin was as hard as a rock and the spearhead was dull and only able to cut the topmost layer.


    Not that I was in a position to put much power into my strikes, lying down backward with only my upper back lifted up and trying to keep the turtle from pushing me down fully or pushing me to the side. For such a slow creature, it¡¯s strength was staggering and I was already feeling pain in my stomach from this position. I dropped the spear and looked for another weapon, my club.


    My club was trapped underneath my ass because it slid behind me while I was falling back. I needed to find a way to tighten it. Wait no, tightening it would just make it harder to take it out when I needed it. Instead, a proper sheath or at least a belt designed to hold weapons was necessary. The only other weapon I had was the dagger but it was dropped and somewhere beneath me or the monster.


    Ignoring the pain from my lower body, I lifted myself up more and pushed back against the turtle with the last vestiges of my strength and searched around for the dagger, feeling for it with my hand. Right as my body was about to give out, my fingertips brushed against its handle.


    My arm gave out and got thrown to the side while my body fell flat against the ground. The beast took advantage of this weakness and went for my neck. I could feel its disgusting smell and imagined its thick teeth easily ripping my jugular out of my neck as I bled out in the dungeon. Instead, it flopped lifelessly onto my chest.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    After pushing its body off to the side and getting up, I pulled the dagger from its neck. It had been buried up to the hilt, cutting into the beast¡¯s neck like it was butter. And the effect was almost instantaneous. How convenient yet terrifying that the blade felled it with one blow. Would I have suffered the same fate if I had brushed my fingers against the blade instead of the handle?


    Once again I had faced near death due to carelessness in the dungeon. Or rather than carelessness, the dungeon once again surprised me with something I didn¡¯t expect despite my caution. Back on the first floor, I was able to kill one of these with ease, on this floor I was unable to beat one of them. As much as I could blame it on there being four, I had killed the first three before fighting the fourth. This was a single monster that caused me this much trouble.


    It reminded me of the bird I had to flee from that was in the very first room of another version of the dungeon. No matter how prepared I was the dungeon could ruin those preparations. No matter how easy the dungeon seemed to be, as I got to later rooms the difficulty would escalate accordingly. The dungeon was a literal deathtrap disguised as a place where one could easily become rich. And I could get rich here if I didn¡¯t die in the process.


    This was too much to take in sober, I thought while drinking some of the liquor. Despite the fact it could run out soon and there was no guarantee I could get more at this rate, I drank as much as I could stomach. It burned my throat as it went down and I needed that burn to distract myself from what just happened. If even one thing had gone wrong, I would have died and this wasn¡¯t even the first time that was true.


    A few minutes passed as kept drinking until the bottle was completely empty and smashed it against the ground. The glass went everywhere and one shard even lodged itself in my hand. I pulled it out and stared at my palm as the blood dripped out. Why even care about the wound if my magical fucking shield would just heal it within a few hours? Why care about anything if I was just going to die within a year?


    Maybe my jugular would¡¯ve just grown back if the turtle had ripped it out. Felt like I was near immortal at times. Looking at my hand again, I realized that while I could see the blood, I couldn¡¯t see my knuckles or hair on my arm from this distance. It was surreal how dark it was getting and how I hadn¡¯t noticed. My eyes were getting used to the darkness but that would only go so far. The alcohol didn¡¯t help as it made my vision a bit shaky.


    Now I had two choices, go on and risk dying again and being unable to see at some point, or head back like a normal person would. The decision should have been obvious but there was just one problem. All this bleeding was making me thirsty and I had nothing more to drink. Dying was starting to feel more preferable than not being to take another sip of some good stuff.


    As much as I wanted to head back to Tom¡¯s place, he would only have light beers and cheap liquor. The good stuff was only brought out on special occasions and not even silver would change his mind on it. In fact, the silver would be confiscated to pay off my tab. But if the next room happened to be the rest area, I¡¯d have some more brew in my hands. My mind focused on this and couldn¡¯t let go of the chance.


    I got up and started walking towards the entrance to the next room, picking up my spear on the way. While a bit crazy, I wasn¡¯t downright suicidal. The spear would help if I ended up wrong. If the twelfth room didn¡¯t have the rest area and instead five or more turtles, I could defend myself somewhat. Then after that, I would leave the dungeon for sure, not gambling with my life any further for a draft.


    To my delight, it was no longer dark when I went into the twelfth room. The room actually too bright, hurting my eyes and forcing me to put my arm on my forehead to shield them. It was also smaller than the eleventh room, being around the size of the fourth or fifth floor. And in the middle of it was a wooden bowl full of random food items and beside it was an entire barrel. Not a full-sized barrel as big as me but more of a mini one that was almost as tall as my knees when I stood straight up.


    If it contained what I thought it did, a better name for it would be a keg rather than a mini-barrel. I walked up to it and found a wooden stopper on the top of it. Just by touching it, the wooden keg leg out a strong aroma. Without even pulling out the stopper, I knew this was a strong ale. The kind that wasn¡¯t watered down at all and even had spices and herbs mixed in. Not only that, but it was a kind of ale I hadn¡¯t tasted in over ten years as it was a specialty of my hometown. Not even Tom would recognize this keg filled almost to the brim with the flavors of home.


    Home was a place I hadn¡¯t thought of in a long time seriously. Ever since I left it, I never looked back yet never made a new home wherever I went. Not even here in this town where I¡¯ve stayed for years have I considered it a home. Just the smell alone made me want to go home yet I couldn¡¯t. In my current state, it was impossible for me to go home.


    No one would know it was me. The years had not been kind to me nor had I accomplished anything meaningful. A trip home would be one of shame rather than a warm welcome. I was sure that some people would be happy to see me back but everyone would be disappointed by what I had become. Or at least, I was.


    Perhaps, if I was successful in the dungeon I¡¯d feel good enough to be able to bring myself to go home. I didn¡¯t know what I meant by successful myself. The only goal I had so far was the one that the goddess had given me, which was just as vague as being successful. There was no use in overthinking things for now.


    I grabbed the keg and put it on my shoulder. Tonight I would celebrate with this keg. Not with the others but in a room all to myself. I¡¯d rent out a room to sleep in again and just eat this bowl of food and then drink while thinking about home. That sounded nice.


    It didn¡¯t take long to make it back to the surface. I could¡¯ve employed the fishing method in room six since the enemies were so easy to beat one on one, or maybe in room nine since I could still beat two at once within a minute. But I had achieved one of my short-term goals to make it back to the rest area and with the ores, I felt like I had accomplished enough for one day.


    I missed home too much to kill turtles for hours on end. There was always tomorrow for that. It wasn¡¯t as if I only had a year to live and every day counted dearly. That was exactly how things were actually but I just couldn¡¯t bring myself to care. A year just seemed so far away and would continue to feel far away until it was almost over.


    At the dungeon entrance, I found Matt and Chris hanging out while Jerry seemed to still be in the dungeon. Chris was holding an ore in his hands and seemed to have some measure of success, which was impressive considering I wasn¡¯t in the dungeon for even an hour. Heck, there would be several hours until sundown and I was turning in super early.


    The two of them looked over at the bowl of food in my hands and the keg on my shoulder in shock. They probably knew what I had done and I could care less. I just smiled at them and walked to the bar, not spending a breath of air to talk to them about my run. At the bar, I found there to be just Tom and no one else.


    The lunch crowd had obviously left and the late afternoon drinkers either didn¡¯t come or weren¡¯t here yet. Shockingly enough, Tom was asleep behind the bar, leaning up against the counter. This was the first time I had seen him like this in all the years I¡¯ve known him. The moment didn¡¯t last for long as his eyes flickered open and he stood up like nothing had happened. How the hell did he do that?


    ¡°Can I help you? It doesn¡¯t seem like you need any food or a drink. Seems like you¡¯ve got that part covered,¡± said Tom while noticing the keg and bowl of food. Not a single sign of fatigue nor his recent sleep showed on his face.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to rent a room and I¡¯m turning in early,¡± I said.


    He passed me a key and it was to the same room I slept in the previous night. I tried reaching into my shirt to get some coins to pay with. I had only silver to give and wouldn¡¯t get any change for the coin with my debts, but it made me feel bad to constantly have others pay for me or increase my tab any further.


    ¡°No need to pay for it. You left the room in great condition. I¡¯ll add it to your tab and with a discount. When you''ve got the money you can pay me back. Just promise me you¡¯ll pay off your tab all at once Mr. Dungeon Explorer,¡± said Tom while lifting up his hand to stop me. I guess I would have to do that now.


    That did seem really cool. Going back to the bar with a bag of silver and paying off all the debts in an instant. It would be liberating and a great way to show off once I get rich. I could even add in a bit of extra. Then again, paying off my debt wouldn¡¯t help at all with establishing a knight order, but if I were to die I¡¯d like to die without any debts. A new short-term goal was to pay back Tom the money I owed him.

 Chapter 9: Sword Disarmament

    I went up to the room I had rented out for the night and closed the curtains. After spending time in a such a dark place, the sun was annoyingly bright. The curtains were thick and dark, casting most of the room into shadow when closed. It was perfect as my eyes adjusted within seconds. I set the keg, bowl, and a mug that Tom had lent me on the way up on a table next to the bed.


    My thirst was stronger than my hunger so I removed the stopper and let the keg pour its sweet nectar into the mug. Actually, I wasn¡¯t hungry at all as I was still full from lunch, but it would be nice to have some food if I got hungry halfway through the night or when I got up. It was hard to pour the keg into the mug as it was so big and awkwardly shaped. Even with my best efforts, some of it spilled onto the table and the floor.


    So much for Tom complimenting me on not making a mess and giving me a discount for yesterday. He probably already knew a mess would be made as soon as he saw the keg. After all, it was his job to know all about kegs. I wondered if I drunk straight from the barrel, then could I have avoided this mess then realized I would¡¯ve made a bigger mess by dumping it all over me. Which is why he gave me the mug most likely.


    I took off my shirt and used it to wipe up as much of the ale as I could then took a sip from the mug. As soon as it touched my tongue I felt my body tremble. It burned my tongue despite being cold as ice and its flavor was so familiar that it brought tears to my eyes. This is something I¡¯ve needed for years yet never knew I needed it so much until now.


    An hour later, I was lying down on the bed in only my pants with my eyes closed and an empty mug in my hands. I had drunk three mugfuls and was enjoying the aftertaste in my mouth. It had filled me up and I didn¡¯t feel hungry but I was too full to drink anymore. The stopper was put back on the keg to preserve the smell and flavor then I laid down on the bed. Sleep came surprisingly fast with how relaxed I was.


    When I woke up, I felt like I had slept more than I had ever done before. In a good way that is, too much sleep can make me groggy but this left me feeling refreshed. I slipped on my shirt that smelled strongly of ale and opened the curtains to find the moon high in the sky. This made sense as I had gone to sleep in the late afternoon. It would surely mess with my sleep schedule but it worked out for today.


    As it would be hard to carry the keg around the dungeon, I left the keg in the room and brought the bowl of food with me, eating from it while going downstairs. There were plenty of people still there, drinking the night away. At the counter, I found Tom opening a keg of ale, not the same kind I had in my room but still an okay brew. If I hadn¡¯t just gotten up I would have considered getting a mug of it. Plus I had my own ale to finish off.


    ¡°Hey Tom, I¡¯m going to be staying in the room tomorrow as well and left some things in there, is that alright?¡± I asked him after he served a round of drinks and had a slight break.


    ¡°That¡¯s alright but I might go up there later to clean up whatever messes you made,¡± Tom said. Which was nice as I may have wiped it up with my shirt but without a proper cleaning it¡¯d get all sticky and smelly.


    Jerry, Matt, and Chris also happened to be at the bar. All three of them looked at me a bit funny. It was a bit rude of me to turn in early like that, but I¡¯d make it up to them by doing a nighttime dungeon run. Maybe tomorrow I¡¯d even let them try a bit of my hometown ale and we could drink it together. If I brought it out now, I¡¯d be too tempted to drink it again to the point where I wouldn¡¯t even be able to make it past the front door of the bar. Then again, doing that in the past hasn¡¯t stopped me from clearing out the dungeon.


    I nodded towards them and with the spear in my hands, it was obvious enough I was going back to the dungeon. No need to interrupt their good time with excuses when I can just bring back some results. It was a bit odd making the trip back to the dungeon entrance at night. I¡¯ve all but memorized the path by now but it threw me off a bit seeing how different everything looked. Of course, I had made the trip back during the night before but without thinking too much into it, too tired to overthink things.


    The dungeon entrance looked eerily dark during the day, but at night it glowed with an ethereal light. It looked like something you¡¯d expect to find in the night sky, in the heavens, not down here. Which made sense considering I could find a divine item and a magical item within its depths. Inherently magical and undoubtedly unnatural. And hopefully, those traits will allow me to get stronger, heal my liver, and gain wealth greater than any man is supposed to possess.


    I entered the dungeon for the seventh time in my life. This time the walls were yellow and it made the room feel unusually bright and colorful. Not the good kind of yellow but the dirty almost gold yellow that instead of looking valuable just looked dull and ugly. Besides that, the entire room smelled awful to the point where I could barely breathe.


    As for the monster that spawned, it was a sword. If it was a monster. I couldn¡¯t tell why the hell there was a sword in the middle of the room sitting on its hilt. It was common sense to me that a monster would spawn in every room of the dungeon and it¡¯d be unique almost every time. But this was a rusty old sword, not a giant lizard, rat humanoid, snake thingy, or insect turtle combination.


    How I was I supposed to fight or kill this sort of thing. Other than balancing on its hilt, it didn¡¯t move and it sure as hell didn¡¯t seem alive. It was tempting to walk over to it, pick it up and then slash at the wall to break the blade. The entrance to the next room wasn¡¯t open so it wasn¡¯t like I could just go by it and be on my way. This was something I was expected to fight. Or I could just leave the dungeon and pretend I never saw this weird crap.


    At the same time, I was curious about this new kind of enemy and whether or not it¡¯d be easy to fight. Also, since it was made of metal, could I not collect and sell whatever remained after defeating it beyond the normal loot. After all, the blood of the ratmen was still stuck on my clothes despite cleaning it in the river twice. If only the meat and other parts wouldn¡¯t rot instantly upon leaving the dungeon, there would be a culture of selling stuff beyond the occasional loot for a more reliable income.


    Surely metal could not rot. It could rust and melt but even that could be melted down and reforged into an ingot for a use somewhere. Possibly, this version of the dungeon, despite its horrible smell was a place of fortune. Greed filled my eyes as I looked at this sword monster and I approached it.


    Once I got into range to attack it with my spear, it reacted to my movements by leaning towards me, balancing on only the tip of the handle. When my spear got close to it, it turned its blade towards the spear as if to guard against it. That is where it stayed, stock still. I lost my patience and swung my spear at it, stabbing or thrusting would do little against such a thin and small target.


    Locked in place, the sword didn¡¯t move a bit when my spear hit it nor did it take any damage. It simply blocked the attack then went back to facing towards me when I moved the spear away. In case it wanted to counterattack, I lifted up my shield in anticipation of it flying or launching itself towards me. And then nothing happened.


    Since it made no attempts to fight back I tried swinging the spear at it again to no avail. Blocked by its blade again. However, I noticed a pretty much crack in the back of the blade and it was one-sided. Perhaps I could beat it simply by striking it there. Which proved to be easier said than done.


    Every time I swung the spear, it hit the blade even when I swung it from a different direction. Hell, I even swung from above which was no better than a thrust in this situation and the damn thing still angled itself backward to block it. Eventually, I realized it rotated slowly and I was starting to get close to hitting it by switching my angle constantly.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Things devolved to me wildly striking it constantly mostly in a circular motion and a few thrusts mixed in for good measure. Then I finally found its weakness by going for a feint. It moved to block my swing from the right by turning that way, then I moved the spear over it and immediately swung back in a smooth motion. As the blade hit the crack in the back, the entire blade shattered into pieces. Success, but a short-lived one as the pieces immediately sunk into the ground and disappeared.


    Not even a trace of the sword was left behind. So much for this dungeon granting me a fortune. It didn¡¯t change the fact that it wasn¡¯t too bad of a dungeon to explore. The sword had a weakness that could be easily exploited and for all I knew, it didn¡¯t fight back at all. That might change if there were two of them, but I saw no reason not to go up to floor six at the very least. With my newfound strategy, I went into the next room.


    I walked up to the sword and it positioned itself. Thinking about it, it seemed as if the sword was challenging me to a duel. If I had a sword instead of a spear and faced it up close, I wondered if it would act differently? Between fighting it with a sword and a spear, I¡¯d much rather use the spear than find out what would happen.


    Within a few seconds, I had shattered the sword. Like the previous sword, I only had to feint and go around it to dispatch it. This pattern continued as I traversed more rooms, all the way until floor six. There, I had to make a decision after taking out the sword there.


    Fishing was the dungeon technique taught to me that I hadn¡¯t tried out yet. For it to work properly, I¡¯d have to go back two rooms and then wait. With these swords, I could handle one of them with ease and then go through several more rooms of them on the way back without trouble. So the most effective way to do it was to continue onto room eight then come back to this room and do something similar to the wheat grind technique.


    However, a much safer alternative existed. That was going back to room four and just doing things there and it would be better than the wheat grind technique yet not as good as doing it at this room. Should I risk going to rooms with two swords and possibly new behaviors to get better loot and more chance of it dropping when I came back? Or do I go the safe route and avoid coming close to death again like pretty every other time I¡¯ve gone past room six?


    It¡¯s not like I wanted to make it to the rest area again. I¡¯ve already got a keg of ale waiting for me back in my room and that was good enough for me. Focusing on trying to get more loot was a more pressing issue than getting more good drinks. After all, with money, I could buy all sorts of alcohol I¡¯ve never tasted before and possibly have them recreated in the rest areas down the line.


    All that said, the biggest reason to not continue on was the overwhelming scent. It smelled like something died and got covered up for a week so the smell was contained and the cover was just removed now. I was constantly covering up my nose with my shirt which smelled mostly like the ale I drank yesterday, which made me thirsty. Yet, could I really back down from a dungeon simply from smell if these swords were that easy to deal with?


    Seemed far more productive to just try and get used to the smell and see how the swords act when there was two of them. Just like the turtles before, they could be taken on one by one since the sword wouldn¡¯t move from the spot, just rotating and tilting to block attacks. What could possibly go wrong?


    Everything, I found out when I walked through the portal leading to room seven. There, I found the room to be completely different from before and a single longsword sat in the middle of the room. Instead of yellow, the walls were a gray background with yellowish spots and cubes littering it. And instead of smelling like someone died and rotted for ages, it smelled like burnt hair, an equally nasty smell.


    A single sword that was twice as long as the other swords leaned forwards like the ones I had faced before. Why was there only one of them? I pondered this while black smoke started to rise from the blade until it literally caught on fire. It was as long as the bottom of my foot to my waist and it was on fucking fire. The hell was I supposed to fight this of all things. I looked behind me to try and flee, only to find the exit to the room sealed.


    This wasn¡¯t fair. To make things worse, when I looked back at the sword, it lifted off the ground, floating in the air. The area around the sword crackled and random bursts of black smoke appeared randomly around it. And the smell, oh goddess the smell, it was so bad that I wanted to claw my nose off and barf. It was as if someone died, sat to rot for a week, and then was set on fire.


    The sword angled itself downwards towards me, and to my vision it seemed so small as it lined up to my eyes exactly, being just a line floating in my vision that started to get bigger. Last second, I realized it was already attacking me and I moved to the side. I managed to dodge but it hit the ground at my feet, one of the yellow circles which turned red in an instant then exploded, shoving me away. My back slammed against the wall and I dropped the spear.


    While my back hurt, the explosion just pushed me away rather than hurting me at all. It even left a crater where the yellow stuff had been. Before I could retrieve my spear, the sword got into position and started heading towards me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that I was leaning against a yellow cube on the wall. I dived to the side and lifted up my hands to protect my head as the sword cut into the wall and caused another explosion, launching me across the entire room.


    My arms and back ached from being thrown about, but I remained unharmed for the most part. Once again, I was standing on one of the yellow tiles and they seemed to be everywhere. The only chance I¡¯d get to attack this monstrous being was to make it hit the grey ground rather than the yellow so I wouldn¡¯t be blown away. Either get tossed around like a doll until it ran out of yellow spots with the constant risk of dying, or move to a place without the yellow.


    Before it could get ready to attack again, I started running back to the first place exploded, the crater in front of the entrance. It was able to easily cut me off by slamming into the ground directly in front of me and slamming me backward onto the ground with the explosion. It was playing with me. Right then and there it could¡¯ve skewered me with ease but chose to attack the spot which would explode and knock me down.


    This time, I chose not to move despite it charging me and the yellow spot below me. The sword aimed for my head and I protected that area with my shield. Without as much force as I expected, it lodged itself on my shield and pressed down on me. This kept it in one place and I pulled out my club in an attempt to strike it from behind. Hopefully, it had the same weakness as the other swords, a crack in its back.


    As soon as I pulled the bludgeon from my waist, the pressure against the shield and instead clashed with the bludgeon. It had purposely stayed against the shield, waiting for me to take advantage of its time of supposed vulnerability. And I could only watch in horror as it melted through the strips of metal, cut into the wood and cut a large chunk of the bludgeon off, rendering it useless as a weapon. White smoke came from the sliced off club as the moisture was sucked out of it and it started to burn in my hand.


    The sword, unimpeded by the bludgeon, continued downwards and hit the ground, exploding and sliding me off to the side with a sharp pain at my arm. Or what was left of my arm. The bludgeon wasn¡¯t the only thing the sword had cut through as I could see both my lower arm and the pieces of the bludgeon on the other side of the room. It was hard to process seeing my arm separated from my body.


    No matter how many times I had come close to death, my injuries had been superficial or serious but treatable. With my shield, the wounds would normally just close up and heal. But would it bring back my arm? It¡¯s not like I could re-attach it as it was burned off, not just cut off. Which on a positive note was keeping me from bleeding everywhere.


    I was left completely disarmed and my right arm was gone. I was crippled and could die at any second. The blade hovered in the air, preparing another attack, choosing to torture me than outright kill me. Though it was fruitless and caused nothing but pain, I lifted up my shield to defend once again. This time when it came towards me, I lifted the shield up towards an angle slightly.


    It hit the shield and rather than sticking, it slid to the side as I lifted it up and to the right even more. Instead of cutting into my body, it hit the ground, grey ground not yellow which didn¡¯t explode. There it stayed stuck into the ground and I pulled the dagger out from my shirt and tried cutting the back of the blade. In case it was faking being stuck in the ground, I did this as fast as I could, almost cutting myself on the blade while pulling it out.


    The sword reacted to my motions and lifted itself up from the back, trying to back away. For just a second, the blade stopped at the front which was embedded into the ground, truly stuck. And that moment was all that I need to strike its back and watch as it shattered into a thousand pieces. It was over. All of it.


    Even my newfound career in dungeon exploring was done for as I had only one arm. This room somewhat reminded me of that unique snake with the dark eyes I had fought before which had given me this dagger. I¡¯d be pissed if this sword didn¡¯t give me something in return for that hard-fought battle, a retirement gift per say.


    Just as I thought that the scattered pieces of the sword, instead of sinking into the ground, started reforming into something.

 Chapter 10: Dea Ex Machina

    The pieces of the broken sword reformed into another sword. I mean what did I expect? Of course, the sword would become a sword as loot. Or would it? Would¡¯ve been interesting to see an ax pop out from a sword. Last time this happened, it was a dagger from a snake so it doesn¡¯t necessarily make any sense.


    I picked it up with my left hand, as my right was on the other side of the room, and it burst into flames like the monster I had fought to get it. It was the same length as well, a fire longsword. Very cool looking and probably valuable it was. A pity I got it right as I¡¯ve decided to retire from dungeon exploring as it¡¯d be nice to use. On the other hand, such a valuable parting gift was very much welcome.


    Rather than being painful, my wound felt weird and itchy. The fire blade had cauterized it so the wound was in no danger of bleeding and seemed to even be trying to heal with the power of the shield. It felt like I could still move my lower arm that wasn¡¯t there if I tried and several times I caught myself trying to move it and being surprised it wasn¡¯t moving or well, attached to me.


    I couldn¡¯t stop myself from cracking up and laughing out loud at the absurdity. It was either that or cry about it and I had already cried about home yesterday. What sort of man would I be if I cried as a result of every memory or bad thing to happen. Then again, losing an arm isn¡¯t a normal bad thing.


    First thing I did was to walk over to my arm and pick it up, setting the fire sword to the side. Perhaps I could reattach it and my shield will help fix it. Certainly be easier than trying to grow a new forearm and hand from scratch. As soon as I picked it up, I realized this wasn¡¯t an option as I grabbed a chunk of flesh falling off my arm instead of the arm itself. It was rotting away like one of the defeated monsters in the dungeon.


    This was to be my fate as well if I died here. Absorbed into the dungeon as my body deteriorates into nothing. The chunk of flesh slipped from my hand and fell onto the ground which quickly enveloped it. Nothing more that could be done about that.


    While it was sitting on the ground outside of hands, the sword wasn¡¯t covered in fire which was good to know as it burning constantly would be inconvenient. Hopefully, it was near impossible to break from the blade side like the monster it came from. Then again, that trait might come hand in lack of hand with the weakness on the back making it shatter instantly. Not that I would ever test if that weakness was still there. This sword was my retirement fund.


    Some other adventurer can find out the hard way if the sword still does that. Preferably after getting some use out of it so they couldn¡¯t complain to me for selling the sword to them for a fortune. It was somewhat understandable that the value of a divine item could be limited depending on the effect and the deity reigning over it, but an enchanted item should just be valuable no matter what and this was a fucking sword that had flames on it. The appearance alone should drive up the value to collectors, not even talking about adventurers wanting to use it as their main weapon.


    Once my former dominant hand was fully gone, I picked up the sword and walked over to pick up my spear. Since I couldn¡¯t hold both at once, I untied the cloth around my waist I used for the bludgeon and tied the spear to my back. It took me maybe twenty times to get it right. With only one hand, it was nearly impossible to steady the spear on my back and tie the cloth around it.


    Normally I would¡¯ve tried to put away the sword and keep out the spear in case I ran into any trouble on the way back, but I¡¯d rather not burn my clothes off, especially since my shirt was covered in ale and would light straight up. I would need a sheath to keep the sword in that was fireproof for convenience. Or rather, I should consider having one made for it and that¡¯ll raise the value of the sword and make it easier to transport to a city where it could be sold at a good price or auctioned off.


    Or maybe this sword alone could be strong enough to allow me to continue dungeon exploring. Which was unlikely as it was in my offhand and was super awkward to swing. I couldn¡¯t believe I was considering going back into the dungeon at all at this point. My body and mind still hadn¡¯t fully registered what had happened. Felt like business as usual.


    I dragged myself out of the dungeon, room by room, still hoping that the shield would start to regrow my arm. Instead, my stub started to scab over as the burnt flesh started to drop off. At this point, it was obvious that it would just heal the burnt part then have skin regrow over it. Which was better than a horribly burnt and cauterized wound just waiting to get infected.


    No new enemies spawned on the way back and I made no attempts to try and do the fishing technique. It seemed a lot more promising than the wheat grind and I regretted not being able to try it out. However, I¡¯d have to deal with living with one arm and figuring out what to do with the last year of my life.


    With the dark dagger and fire sword, I could make a small fortune, pay off my debts, then retire in luxury. For a full year, I¡¯d engage in debauchery and drink away all my problems until the reaper¡¯s due. As for the shield, I¡¯d obviously keep it at least until my arm healed. Then, I¡¯d pass it on to someone else as it would keep me from becoming drunk enough to forget this.


    Not the most satisfying life, but what a way to go. I could imagine it now, as I had already lived a life similar to that for years and for the first time I had been able to be normal with the dungeon. And that was something I¡¯d have to give up.


    At the entrance to the dungeon, I didn¡¯t find anyone about. Jerry and his friends were probably still asleep or in the dungeon. Tom may have been smart but he¡¯s not psychic and probably not even he would have predicted this or he¡¯d be right there, sitting in the grass waiting for me so he could grant me guidance on what I needed to do.


    Speaking of Tom, I still had that keg of ale from home in my room. It¡¯d be nice to have a tall mug of that. Maybe consider going back home to see my relatives before I died, shame for how I¡¯ve wasted away for years be damned. All that could just wait until later on, tomorrow when I have a clearer head or come to terms with what happened to my arm.


    At Tom¡¯s bar, I found myself in the breakfast crowd as people were just waking out of their drunken stupors from last night or going off to work in the fields. Everyone in the bar turned to look at me. It was hard not to when I was carrying a flaming sword and missing an arm. Nobody said a word as I walked past all of them and went upstairs to my room. There I went over to the keg on the table and went to pour myself a drink.


    However, there was no stopper on top on the keg even though I made sure to put it back on. I lifted up the keg and found that only half of it was left even though I couldn¡¯t have drunk that much in one night and I swore I only drank maybe an eighth to a quarter of the barrel. Which meant someone else went into the room and drank a bunch of it.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    The first suspect that came to mind was Tom bringing it down to share with everyone, but he wouldn¡¯t do that without permission. So who did it? There was an odd trail of liquid on the floor going towards the window, spilt ale. I walked over to the window and looked down to see three mugs lying on the ground right next to the wall of the bar. Yeah, it was pretty obvious who was behind this and it disgusted me.


    Three people, three mugs.


    Chris and Matt were the only ones who knew I brought this out of the dungeon other than Tom. And then Jerry was with them yesterday night when I got up and he was looking at me rather oddly with the others. They knew I had left and wouldn¡¯t have been back for a while. I suppose they justified this theft in their minds as paying off my debts. To think that I would¡¯ve willingly shared it with them if they just asked and planned to do so later today when they came back for lunch or dinner so I could drink with them.


    Well, good thing I was cutting ties with them to retire anyway. Now they¡¯re definitely not going to get any of my money. Just Tom¡¯s debts would be paid and I could consider my debts to Jerry gone. I wouldn¡¯t even bother getting Tom to ban them from the bar. Just settle things here and then leave for the city.


    Despite being left to open air for what I assumed was hours, the ale still tasted good as I poured myself a mug and downed it. I had more things to do and Jerry¡¯s crew sneaking in and drinking a bunch of my ale ruined my mood to drink. That and I sorta dumped a bunch more of the ale onto the floor while trying to pour it with one hand.


    Around five minutes later, I found the stopper on the ground under the bed, probably dropped carelessly and rolled under there. The ale was sealed up and I closed the curtains even though that wouldn¡¯t stop anyone from getting in, but the change would hopefully discourage Jerry and his gang from sneaking back in again. Then I picked up the fire sword, which I had left on the ground so it wouldn¡¯t burn anything and so I¡¯d have a free hand. Then went downstairs.


    While leaving the bar a few people tried stopping me to ask me what had happened but I ignored them. Tom was too busy making breakfast to talk so I¡¯d come back later during a low time. Instead, the best thing to do was go to the temple. Jeff¡¯s smithy didn¡¯t open until afternoon and I needed to let the goddess know that I¡¯m giving up on the task. Perhaps I¡¯d pass the task onto the new owner and that¡¯d increase the shield¡¯s value.


    That would be a worthwhile question to ask Jeoffry if he was in. Who am I kidding, since he wasn¡¯t grabbing a meal at Tom¡¯s bar, he would be in. As I walked through town, I felt the gazes of pretty much everyone in town on me, on my new sword that is. That or the stub where my right arm once was. Thankfully, the trip was a short one and no tried to stop me or ask about things.


    At the temple, I found Jeoffry standing outside staring at me with his mouth agape in shock. But he quickly hid his shock and ran into the temple as I entered. There he composed himself and smiled at me, trying his hardest not to stare and failing to do so.


    ¡°I need to pray for a bit and I might need to sell this shield later,¡± I said to him.


    ¡°That¡¯s fine, just, is there a way to stop that. Like, extinguish the flames on the sword. It¡¯s not really proper to have something like that happening in a temple,¡± said Jeoffry and I was more than happy to comply.


    I set the sword down and Jeoffry relaxed as the fire dissipated and I held the shield close to me. Within a few seconds, I was connected to the divine and tried to convey my message. However, talking to a divine was a one-way thing, they talked and I listened, not the other way around. She already knew of my plight and everything else that had happened up until now.


    There was a way to bring back my arm and it would appear the next time I entered the dungeon if I just went straight ahead as far as I could go, not trying any techniques like grinding nor leaving and coming back for an easier time. The next dungeon I went into would be one that I could handle even with my disability. It would all work out somehow.


    Crazy talk it was, going back into the dungeon just as I lost my arm. On the other hand, I could bring back my arm if I did this. For such a short time I was armless and about to retire and now would receive divine help so I could continue on. Truly a case of Dea Ex Machina.


    Why not try it out? I had nothing better to do with my life than drinking myself to a death faster than the liver failure could take me out. Throwing myself at the dungeon until I died even though I only had one arm was fine too.


    ¡°How was the guidance?¡± asked Jeoffry.


    ¡°Different from what I expected. Scratch trying to sell the shield, I¡¯m keeping it for a bit longer,¡± I said while grabbing the fire sword and leaving the temple.


    Once again, I made the trip across town and started to head towards the dungeon. On the way, Jeff opened the door to the blacksmiths and motioned towards me. The goddess never said I had to immediately enter the dungeon so I went over to see what Jeff wanted from me. He held out his hand and motioned towards me.


    ¡°Sword. Let me inspect,¡± Jeff said. He was blunt about wanting to see the sword and was seemingly oblivious to my missing arm.


    I passed the sword over to him and it continued to burn in his hands as he brought it inside the blacksmith shop. He didn¡¯t close the door so I took it as an invitation to come in and closed it behind me. The smoke and heat didn¡¯t bother me too much anymore with what I had faced in the dungeon.


    Jeff went over to his weapon display wall and rummaged about the cupboards below. Eventually, he found what he was looking for, a sheath large enough to accommodate the blade and slid the fire sword in. The sheath remained unharmed and it seemed like the fire went out while sheathed. Then he looked around another part of the shop and found a belt that the sheathed blade fit on nicely and passed it over to me. It was perfect for my needs.


    ¡°How much do I owe you for these and how did you know I needed these?¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Our divines are on good terms. I was told to give you these as a favor,¡± said Jeff in an oddly normal way. This was the first time I ever heard him go into such much detail. He usually preferred to be short and blunt in the way he spoke.


    Whatever, the belt and sheath were free so I took it and put it on. With it, I was starting to look like a proper adventurer aside from my missing arm. Or did the missing arm make me look more like an adventurer who¡¯s been through many battles? I left the blacksmiths shop satisfied with my new gear and headed towards the dungeon once again.


    A lot fewer people stared at me now that I no longer had a flaming sword out. Which was nice as it was a bit uncomfortable with all the staring before. I could¡¯ve made a pit stop by Tom¡¯s bar as it was on the way to grab some breakfast or fill in Tom on events. Instead, I headed straight to the dungeon. It¡¯d be nicer to tell everyone about me losing an arm as a fun drinking story after I get it back.


    At the entrance of the dungeon, there was no one around. Which was good as I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d be able to hold in my temper if I saw Jerry, Matt, or Chris. I could deal with them after I got my arm back. As nice as their advice was and as much as I was starting to see them as people I could be friends with, I had to cut my losses with them as soon as possible.


    Right as I was about to walk into the dungeon, Jerry stepped out right in front of me. My remaining hand rested on the grip of my new sword and clenched hard. I really wanted to punch him in the face seeing him right at this moment. That or cut him down where he stood.


    ¡°Hey man, good timing we¡¯ll get some loot out of this dungeon yet. Wait, what happened to your arm? Are you alright?¡± asked Jerry with what seemed like genuine concern. And it could be genuine, after all, he was a dirty thief, not a murderer. He didn¡¯t want people to get hurt, he just didn¡¯t respect their fucking property.


    ¡°Move,¡± I said, mustering every bit of resentment as I could in my voice as I stared at him. It was a way of letting him know I knew what he had done.


    Without another word, he stepped off to the side with a scared yet confused face. Then I entered the dungeon because I had better things to do than stay and chat with him as he pretended to be my friend.

 Chapter 11: Ice Cube Trap

    The dungeon was a dark blue color and was extremely cold. Every time I breathed out, white whispy smoke came from my mouth. The ground beneath my feet crunched and cracked as I stepped on it. Everything around me was ice, including the monster in the center of the room. It was literally a floating chunk of ice.


    I preferred when the monsters in the dungeon were large or weird versions of animal I could find outside. This thing and the swords from before were just strange to even look at or take seriously. As if the ice cube heard my thoughts, it began attacking me by breaking a piece off its body and shooting it towards me. The projectile ice was jagged and sharp, but painfully slow. I dodged it by stepping to the side as it hit the ground harmlessly. The only way this thing could hurt me is if I stepped on the things it shot on the ground by accident.


    Since it was made of ice in a cold dungeon, I reasoned that fire was probably its weakness and pulled out the fire sword. Instantly my surroundings started to warm up to a more comfortable temperature. It shot another ice shard my way and I slashed at the projectile. I missed as I was still getting used to using my left hand but the flames brushed by it and the ice shard melted into nothing. Just by getting close to it, the fire sword took out the enemy¡¯s attack. It was time to find out if the same was true of the main body of the monster.


    While walking up to it, I noticed that its body was a bit smaller than it was before. It was literally throwing parts of its body at me. Which made me wonder if I could kill it simply by dodging its attacks for long enough at a distance. When I was right in front of it, it started forming another shard to shoot at me but I slashed my sword at its body and cut into it. At first the blade only cut a fingernail length into its body despite me putting a decent amount of strength, then the flames got to work eating away at it and leaving behind a gaping hole. I kept at it until the sword went completely through and cut it half, both halves falling to the ground and disappearing.


    Brute force didn¡¯t work too well as these chunks of ice had an insane defense, but flames took them out in seconds. Meanwhile, the problem with the environment, the cold, was also solved by the sword. It seemed like the dungeon truly was custom made for my needs. I could save my energy by just holding my sword up to the enemies, practice swinging with my left hand on the ice shards, and all the bad parts of this dungeon that would make it a living hell for any other adventurer was negated by my awesome new sword.


    The next room was the same but even easier as I realized I could just walk up to the monster without any sort of preparation, using my sword as a shield in case it managed to get an attack or two off before I cut it down. I still had my wooden divine shield by why even bother trying to block with that when the other strategy works just as well.


    Normally if I encountered this sort of enemy in a dungeon, I¡¯d feel it out with my shield while dodging or guarding against the projectiles. Since it was so hard, I doubt my spear would¡¯ve done much so I would¡¯ve used my bludgeon to bash it as much as I could, possibly doing some damage or maybe not. Then giving up after realizing I¡¯d have to fight it again and leaving. Heck, the cold alone might¡¯ve forced me to leave even before fighting this thing, not to mention how tough it was without fire.


    Rooms three through six went the same way and I entered room seven to find two of them. Both of them shot their ice shards around the same time with coordination similar to the jumping lizards. If I dodged one way, the other one would towards the direction I was moving towards. Which was of no problem since they were so slow, but I didn¡¯t underestimate them due to that slowness. The turtles taught me that these things became even more dangerous the more of them there were. My only comfort is that I didn¡¯t have to dodge or block these projectiles, I could just melt them.


    Like the sword enemies from the last dungeon, these ice cubes stayed exactly where I found them when I entered the room. So I could just walk around the perimeter of the room until they shot and then got up close and took them out one by one. By the time I reached floor ten and took down three of them, I started to wonder how far I needed to go.


    Even with the fire sword keeping me warm, my feet were starting to get numb and I shivered. I had to sit down and warm them up by lifting them off the ground close to the sword for a bit before I could continue onto room eleven. A rest area could spawn any room now but I would much prefer that the item that was supposed to heal my arm would drop. Regrowing my arm was a bit more of a priority than a nice meal and some alcohol. Actually, I could go for some alcohol at this point.


    Skipping over the next few floors since nothing new happened, I managed to reach floor fifteen. I expected there to be eight enemies in the room, following the trend of the previous rooms in a fairly wide space. That didn¡¯t really happen, or at least, I wasn¡¯t sure. Suddenly I was in a wide open space that several room fourteens could fit in.


    I could see a few enemies around me, but the room seemed to go on for quite a bit and even had walls in the room separate from the boundary alongside giant ice crystals jutting out from the floor and ceiling. More enemies could be hidden behind them. No, more of them definitely were further in as I only counted five enemies around me who began a barrage of attacks towards me.


    They were quite far away so I expected their attacks to lose power and fall down pointlessly, but they kept going in a straight line towards me from five different angles all at once. These attacks were magic based as they defied common sense, not that giant floating ice cubes shooting ice shards made sense either.


    If not for the fact I could just lift up my sword and melt it all away, this attack would¡¯ve been somewhat dangerous as it would have been awkward to dodge. While keeping my eyes on the other enemies, I went up to the one on the far right and took it down, melting away just from me holding my sword next to it. Just as I stepped over to take down the next one, I heard a strange noise behind me, which was another shard hitting the ground just behind me. Another one of the enemies had revealed itself from behind an ice crystal. Which made no difference other than me taking a look over my shoulder every so often as I took down the other five.


    Except, every time I looked over my shoulder, I saw more of the monsters appearing from various spots. One, two, three, four, five I counted. More than eight total, that was for sure. What came next was simply me going from one of them to the other with no real danger. No more of them appeared while I was walking around, I checked thoroughly in all directions while moving to make sure I wouldn¡¯t get stabbed in the back by one of these crystal ice shards.


    And just like that, the fifteenth floor was cleared. Luckily, even some loot dropped from the last enemy I killed, some sort of grey ore that looked slightly different from the previous grey ore. Probably not anything valuable and the difference could be explained by the lighting and blue hue on everything, but I took it as it was still free money.


    This was the farthest I had ever gone into the dungeon and still no items to help me. I had no clues of what this item was supposed to be either. Which was somewhat distressing as no matter how easy things have been so far, it was troubling to go this far into the dungeon. I took another break to warm my feet outside the next floor then entered it to find a rest area.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    As soon as I saw the food, my stomach grumbled and I realized I hadn¡¯t eaten anything since I woke up. More importantly, there was alcohol beside the food. It was only a single mug, which was cheap compared to the big liquor bottle and keg of ale I had found before but was good enough to suit my needs for now.


    The room was also much warmer than the previous rooms. My foot warming session beforehand was wasted. I sat down on the floor and enjoyed the food and the alcohol, which was some sort of beer I had probably drank before. It was hard to remember as there were so many kinds of beers and the flavor fluctuated throughout the seasons. This beer was quite good as it was ice cold and had a strong yet clean flavor. It felt like the hoppers were crushed into dust, mixed in and then strained out completely throughout the fermentation process.


    Whatever the fuck it was, it went down easy and the taste stayed on the tongue, melding quite well with the food. With a beer like this, I could chow down on rotting meat and still complement the flavor. Still tasting good on the second try as I barf it back up. It was just that good.


    The only convenient part of having so little of the beer is that I didn¡¯t have to carry it around the whole time, I polished it off with the rest of the food and set off. As nice as it was to find the rest area, that wasn¡¯t the goal of my trip. My journey would bring me even deeper into the depths of the dungeon. It quickly became clear that the residents of the dungeon did not welcome my intrusion.


    I had only seconds to react as a volley of ice spikes were launched my way as soon as I appeared in room seventeen. Not even with the flames on my sword could I dispel all of these attacks and I had to run off to the side, blocking the spikes in that direction with the sword, shield and simply by moving off to the side once I could. My arm hurt as the spikes that hit the shield exploded and covered my shield with ice.


    My entire body went cold from this frost. These enemies weren¡¯t trying to impale me with these spikes. They were intending to freeze me to death. There were like twenty of them just around the entrance and more deeper inside this massive room. Once I took down one of the enemies, I found another volley coming my way that was much easier to dodge. They had been in a half circle around the entrance which allowed them to ambush me, but they had lost the advantage of their position as I escaped their surround.


    Another brush with death survived as I went through killing all the other monsters. A few more of them popped up deeper within the room trying to sneak attack me but I expected their appearance and avoided their attacks. Monsters weren¡¯t the only ones learning from and countering repeat tactics. By the time I finished up with the room, I counted thirty enemies. A small army of monsters who almost took me out as soon as I entered.


    This dungeon was becoming more and more brutal the further down I went. It was designed to take down far better people than me and I was just cheating myself this far with my weapon and a bit of divine intervention making sure I came to this dungeon in particular. When I went inside room eighteen I was more prepared for an ambush and immediately started running. I ran for only a few steps when I realized that there weren¡¯t any enemies guarding the room¡¯s entrance.


    Or anywhere in the room for that matter. I looked around for a bit and found that the next room was already unlocked for me to go through. This was highly disconcerting. Only facing one really strong enemy that drops an elemental item and blocking the exit was the closest situation I could think of similar to this. Yet, the exit wasn¡¯t sealed and the next room was open. So all the enemies were dead or never were there in the first place. Instead of continuing onto the next floor, I looked around the room a bit more.


    Strangely enough, the room was absolutely huge. Like I could have fit half the damn town in this one room and it was pretty much a labyrinth of walls and crystals blocking my view of the whole place. Eventually, lost in the maze, I found my way back to where I started at the entrance of the room. Except, nothing looked familiar. The layout was different from when I first entered and I couldn¡¯t see the portal to the next room straight ahead like before.


    Which meant this was a different entrance to this room. Convergence. My dungeon had combined with another dungeon explorer¡¯s dungeon, increasing the size and difficulty of the dungeon. The increased size and difficulty compensated for the fact that two people could work together and way more loot dropped during a convergence. However, that was also a point of conflict as random convergences often led to both adventurer¡¯s fighting over loot or each other¡¯s equipment, sometimes even to the death.


    This other adventurer must have noticed convergence had happened and cleared out this room. Since he wasn¡¯t here, waiting for me, he went ahead. Either he was confident in his skills, didn¡¯t trust me, or wanted all the loot to themselves. I didn¡¯t even want to imagine bumping into them since they cleared this entire room by themselves and had the guts to continue on. That or they just left after clearing this room.


    Whichever it was, I had to go on to the next room. If I was lucky, this other adventurer would have already cleared it and moved on, allowing me free passage to go on until I get to the point where I get the item. At the same time, going even deeper into the dungeon with convergence as well was terrifying. This was a point of no return pretty much.


    I had already decided to keep going until I got the item when I entered the dungeon and wasn¡¯t going to change my mind yet. After a few minutes of backtracking, I entered converged room nineteen. There, I witnessed a scene that would haunt my coming days.


    Just ahead of me was a group of what seemed like hundreds of ice cube enemies floating at both eye level and above, creating a wall of ice, no a dome of ice. All of it was surrounding a pillar with an item on top of it, some sort of ring. The dome had an entrance large enough for a human to walk through and a human was inside of the dome.


    It was a young man who was wearing full plate armor without a helmet and carried a sword as large as his own body. He was looking around in shock at all of the enemies surrounding him and it seems like he had just gone in there. If I had gone into this room immediately I would have bumped into him during a more peaceful moment.


    All of these ice monsters started forming projectiles at the same time and the young man reacted by holding out his arm and shooting a bolt of lightning. It struck the upper part of the dome and the ice crystals burst into flames that spread and took down an entire quarter of the enemies. The rest did not hesitate in their attacks and there wasn¡¯t enough time to run. He was a wasp caught in a spider web.


    He lifted up his greatsword and swept it around to take out around half of the ice shards while the other half directly hit his body. Frost covered his armor completely and his skin started turning blue as it chilled him to the bone. A silent scream was uttered from his body as he shot out another lightning bolt, destroying another wall. He tried moving his sword to block as the next volley came but his sword was frozen completely to the ground, along with his hand so he couldn¡¯t let go or move.


    This entire scene happened within seconds and I had no chance to even react as this fellow dungeon explorer turned to ice. And then, to my horror, the ice cubes merged together and turned into a wall made of ice, indistinguishable from the surroundings. This was a trap. There was bait in the form of that item in the middle of the dome and that young man fell for the trap. In his position, I might have fallen into the trap as well.


    His death saved my life. Yet, my existence in the dungeon caused the convergence and therefore his death. It was depressing to think about as the death of a man I had never met might have died due to my actions. Though, it was pointless to wallow in sorrow. I had to avenge this man by taking out the remaining monsters that had killed him.


    Perhaps I could still save him by unfreezing him with my sword. After all, the dungeon wasn¡¯t absorbing him so he might not be dead yet. And if he wasn¡¯t dead, I guess he won¡¯t be needing that sword or plate armor. While trying to find out his identity and sending back any heirlooms or messages his family¡¯s way of course. It would be wrong to just leave his body and possessions in the dungeon after all.

 Chapter 12: Divine Swap

    There were possibly fifty through sixty enemies left. It was really hard to tell as they reformed into a wall, or rather a half wall as half their numbers were destroyed by that lightning. Which begged the question of whether or not I could even take them on. A good number of them were way too high up for me to reach and I could throw my sword as the fire would go out. My goal was to thin their numbers as much as possible if not take them all out.


    If it was impossible to kill them all, then I assumed that the item I needed was in this room. Either it was going to be dropped by one of these enemies or it was the ring on that pedestal right in the middle of the ambush. With the big holes in the dome, I could actually just run for it and swipe the item. However, that had a high chance of me ending up like the other guy, frozen to death or about to die.


    I walked up to the outside part of the half dome and inspected it. There wasn¡¯t a single visible sign that this was a group of enemies nor did they react to my presence. They were truly a trap, only making a move when someone took the bait and entered the dome. How long would they keep up the act in my presence before they reacted?


    Kicking the bottom part of the wall didn¡¯t provoke any reaction at all, and holding my fire sword close to it didn¡¯t work either. A few seconds later, a piece of the wall fell apart and revealed itself to be one of the enemies before fading away, melted by my sword. Yet, the wall stayed silent. Which meant I might have the opportunity to kill all of them without retaliation. At the same time, my sword couldn¡¯t reach all of them so that was still impossible.


    The slope of the dome wasn¡¯t too steep and had some parts jutting out so it seemed like I could climb up it. If I wanted to kill them all, I could get up top and kill them from the top to the bottom while slowly going down. Or they could all activate halfway climbing up and I¡¯d die from a volley of attacks right in my face that would be literally inescapable. Instead, I decided I would just kill as many of the enemies as I could while keeping my feet on solid ground.


    If I was standing on solid ground and not more of them. They seemed able to blend in with the surroundings or make them up so there¡¯s no reason they couldn¡¯t do the same at my feet. As a reaction to this thought, I held the sword to the ground for a bit with no result other than warming up my feet a bit, still a welcome result. Thankfully, my paranoia was unfounded at least for this room and it was only this wall that I had to kill.


    I went up and down with my sword, killing as many of the ice monsters as I could reach which was as far as the tip of my sword when I extended it fully. Then I stepped over to my left a few steps and did it again. About three-quarters of the way through this process, a crack formed in the wall and everything fell apart. The sound of ice shattering rang out throughout the room as the entire dome collapsed on itself. Rather than turning back into monsters, the pieces of the wall shattered into hundreds of pieces and got absorbed back into the dungeon. All that remained was a few parts of the wall at the bottom that were unaffected that I quickly cleaned up.


    And like that the room was cleared and I even saw a new portal appear on the other side of the room. No more enemies to fight and I could freely take the ring and attempt to save my fellow dungeon explorer. I held my sword up to his frozen body and watched as it started to melt away. As the young man and his armor also melted away with the ice. Every bit and piece of him freed fell to pieces or dripped down into a mass of gore. He was completely dead in the ice and somehow rotted away alongside his equipment breaking while in the ice.


    The sight was nauseating watching a complete frozen human defrost into a soup. A soup that the dungeon happily sucked up as I freed it. I wasn¡¯t even sure why I kept going and defrosted the entire thing. Nobody deserved a death like that. Alone in a dungeon frozen to death helplessly. And I had no way of figuring out his identity or where he came from, so his friends and loved ones would wait for hours or even days hoping he¡¯d come out safe and sound. There was no closure in a situation like that, just despair.


    He was a far stronger adventurer than me, able to destroy an entire half of those enemies in almost an instant while in a disadvantageous position. Yet he died while I¡¯m still alive. The dungeon was a place of skill, luck, and equipment. I had the equipment and the luck, but not much skill. Then again, not even luck since this was all set up for me to go here by the goddess. Unless that could also be considered luck.


    Either way, I was alive and needed to get the item that could bring back my arm. Hopefully, it was that ring on the pedestal. There were also three ores lying around on the ground dropped by the enemies. I snatched them up and then moved up to the pedestal to get a better look at the ring. It had a symbol upon it that glowed with a divine light much like my shield but smaller and was made of what I assumed was silver as it was more polished than iron, looking a lot like my silver coins.


    The symbol, oddly enough, was a different one from the one on my shield but I was almost positive that this was the item I had sought after. Even if it wasn¡¯t, I would go no further as I would definitely die in this dungeon if I even think of taking on the next floor. Heck, I wouldn¡¯t have made it through these last two floors without the convergence bringing this other adventurer to clear out most of the enemies before I got to this point. And now he was dead so I couldn¡¯t leech off his efforts anymore.


    I wanted to put on the ring immediately to regrow my arm but for some reason, I couldn¡¯t. Every time I put it even close to my finger, I suddenly became unable to move the ring or my finger. Maybe Jeoffry would know why and help me out. If I was lucky, I just had to pray with the ring and chat with the divine before it¡¯d let me use it. If I was unlucky, this wasn¡¯t the item and by leaving the dungeon I would have wasted the entire trip.


    Choosing to believe the ring was the item I needed, I started to leave the dungeon. Back on the eighteenth floor, I came to a realization that I had a choice between two options. I could go back the way I came or go back the way that other adventurer went. It was by no means a reasonable option as it could be on the other side of the world full of people speaking a different language and strange food. At the same time, I could let the people there know of that adventurer¡¯s death.


    It was a nice thought, but I wasn¡¯t that selfless and such a risk wasn¡¯t worth it for a dead man even if he had helped me indirectly. Besides, I still had a full keg of ale waiting for me tonight and I¡¯d rather know where I was if my efforts to heal my arm failed.


    Within a few minutes, I had passed through all of the rooms and made it back to the entrance of the dungeon. There, I relaxed, sheathed my sword and stepped outside to find the late afternoon sun glaring down on me and a strong heat. Which felt quite nice with all that cold I had dealt with. Then it went back to being uncomfortably hot in almost an instant.


    There was no one around the dungeon and I didn¡¯t intend on sticking around long enough for any to come around. That would just needlessly piss me off. Being pissed off could wait until I regrew my arm. I walked into town, intending to go to the temple but stopped as there were too many people crowding inside the town.


    Everyone who would normally be in the fields were now in town crowding around a procession of carriages. They were the merchants who came to town along their trade routes and allowed the people here to buy things they needed but couldn¡¯t buy unless they went to the city, expensive luxury items they couldn¡¯t resist using up all their excess income on, and various items of little to no use. Not only did these merchants sell their items for cash, but they were up for buying and trading as well.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    If I remembered correctly, Jeff said that they were coming in a week yet it¡¯s only been a few days. Which meant they were here early and might even stay a few days longer to account for people in villages and towns off the trade route to funnel in here and make some deals. For the next few days to a week, this town would be a festival of buying and selling.


    Jeoffry was likely in this crowd himself, looking for religious text or stuff to outfit the temple with. So, I pushed my way through the crowd, looking around for his distinct white garb and stiff demeanor. On my way through the crowd, I stopped by one of the trade carts which happened to be selling mostly jewelry and decorative silverware, all of it being fake of course but still nice. The merchant recognized me from past months and eagerly greeted me.


    ¡°Well if it ain¡¯t the old drunkard that looks around for rare wines and liquors and helps with heavy lifting in exchange for a few sips. I see life has been both harsh and well to you. An arm sacrificed but much wealth gained. Perhaps I can interest you in a hook to replace your lost arm?¡± asked the merchant. He was sharp but lacked empathy, immediately looking towards selling me something rather than asking what happened.


    At the same time, if not for my arm coming back soon, I would seriously consider his offer. A hook or prosthetic arm would be very useful to replace my lost arm. In a way, he was being considerate in a money-grubbing way. He didn¡¯t care what happened but he was willing to help for a price. I raised my hand and waved it to indicate that was unnecessary and I was about to push back into the crowd as I didn¡¯t need a hook or fake jewelry.


    ¡°That shield? That symbol? Would you be willing to part with it for a bit of money? Perhaps I could help you get more than just a sip of exotic wine on the side?¡± asked the merchant. That piqued my curiosity a bit, the merchant wanting to buy it.


    Surely he knew how hard it was to sell divine items, especially ones that he didn¡¯t know the effect of. Yet, he knew the symbol as well. Which meant that it might actually be worth some money to him. Which meant that either he knew someone looking to buy items of this divine alignment, he had experience selling it before for a pretty coin, or he had one himself and intended to resell it as a set for more money.


    ¡°No, but I¡¯m willing to buy any items with this symbol if you have one. Do you?¡± I asked back.


    We stared into each other¡¯s eyes for a few seconds until he finally looked away. Then he went deeper into his carriage and dug a box out, which opened up to reveal a necklace adorned with the symbol of Sanae Patil. An item indispensable for my goal of building a knight order and still valuable as it was a divine item, but often sold under its true value due to lack of demand.


    ¡°This necklace is quite valuable you know. It has a double stack effect of regeneration and can heal many a wound within seconds. If not for me following another god, I¡¯d keep this for myself. And even now, I see no reason to part with it for money. Perhaps your sword might convince me to trade it away if I can get a closer look,¡± said the merchant. This sly bastard already noticed the value of my sword.


    However, I had no intention of getting rid of my sword now. It was too useful in the dungeon. Anyway, I realized what I had to do. I pulled the ring out of my shirt with the symbol of another god or goddess. This ring wasn¡¯t for me to use but to trade it for this item which would bring back my arm. As soon as the merchant saw the ring he tried swiping it out of my hand, but I closed my fingers around it before he could.


    ¡°I see that you want this ring quite a bit. Even more than the sword at my waist. It¡¯s certainly more valuable than the necklace. We shouldn¡¯t be so quick to try and seal the deal,¡± I said to the merchant with a smile on my face.


    While it would be nice to get the necklace and give up the ring just like that. However, it¡¯d be better if I could milk the merchant for a bit more than the necklace even if by a single coin. For all I know, this ring could be linked to a more major god or goddess with a knight order. I wasn¡¯t going to let this merchant just bleed me dry just because I got all I wanted from the deal.


    ¡°This is true I admit. The ring is of personal value to myself, but of equal monetary value. You want my necklace and I want your ring. It is a fair trade to exchange the two,¡± said the merchant. Obviously, he wanted to avoid haggling as the current deal was heavily in his favor.


    ¡°We both know that¡¯s bullshit. Offer up more or it¡¯s no deal. It¡¯s not like you can sell that necklace easily and I don¡¯t actually need it that much. While this ring I intend to sell no matter what and it seems like it could be resold for quite the tidy sum of cash,¡± I said, pretending that the necklace meant less to me than it actually did.


    Then the merchant did something I would have never imagined. He rolled up his sleeve and revealed a bracelet with the very divine symbol on it as the ring. This couldn¡¯t just be a coincidence. My confidence that this was the way I¡¯d get my arm back grew. Our desire for each other¡¯s item was probably equal and he was telling the truth about it being personally valuable.


    ¡°How about I treat you to some nice wines later and we can call this trade even? Good fortune has come to us both today,¡± said the merchant.


    I relented and passed the ring onto him as I received the necklace and put it on. Now my regeneration would be enhanced by even more. Enough to eventually heal my arm. Even now, I felt the end of my stub feeling itchy. The only downside was that it didn¡¯t come back immediately and I¡¯d have to wait a while for it to come back. I shook hands with the merchant then left, looking around for Jeoffry again.


    Wait, I didn¡¯t need to see Jeoffry anymore as all my questions were answered. Which meant I was free to do as I wished until my arm came back. Part of me wanted to track down Jeff and see if he¡¯d sell the copper ore back to me since the merchant came early. And I had some ores to sell in my shirt even if he didn¡¯t give me the copper back. Then I¡¯d have some free coin to buy stuff from the merchant¡¯s without working for them.


    With that money, I could buy some nice alcohol, full bottles not a few sips, and enjoy myself later. But if I did that, I¡¯d have to find a place to put my belongings where Jeff and his friends wouldn¡¯t steal or drink from them. Tom¡¯s bar as nice as it was just wasn¡¯t the best place to sleep or keep my things. Maybe I should use the money to instead buy a place of my own and subside off the ale and whatever that jewelry merchant will share with me.


    It didn¡¯t take long to find Jeff as he was right over by the carriages that bought and sold stuff related to crafting, weapons, and metal. The same place I planned to sell the ores at. Which made things very convenient as I walked up to Jeff. He was currently picking up various weapons and inspecting them. Despite mostly fixing farm equipment for a living, his passion was in weapons. If he didn¡¯t buy any of the weapons, he¡¯d try to make them himself at home.


    ¡°Jeff about that deal we had before. Is it still on since the merchants came earlier than you said?¡± I asked Jeff while standing next to him. He acted like he hadn¡¯t heard me and continued inspecting the blade for a few seconds before setting it down carefully.


    Then he pointed at my waist while saying, ¡°Belt and sheath good enough.¡±


    ¡°Last I checked, you said this was due to a favor your divine owed mine. We shouldn¡¯t bring business or owing stuff over divine favors,¡± I said in response. I wasn¡¯t going to let him worm out of that deal this easily.


    ¡°Fine,¡± he gave in while passing the copper ore over to me and in exchange, I passed back to him the silver coins which I had kept all this time unused.


    My efforts to not spend it was about to be repaid. Those three silver coins would become nine thanks to these merchants and the city¡¯s lack of supply. Another short-term goal completed.


    ¡°Oh some copper ore, would you happen to be selling it?¡± asked the weapons merchant who he had been standing in front of this entire time.


    ¡°Yes, how much can you give me for it?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Four silver coins. You¡¯re lucky that the prices went up recently,¡± he said.


    ¡°Four? I was expecting more around the range of eight silver coins,¡± I said back honestly. This wasn¡¯t triple the profit.


    ¡°Maybe a few weeks ago, but prices are starting to stabilize and we¡¯re bringing a big shipment of copper to the city ourselves so the price will normalize to maybe two silver coins by next week. Only reason I¡¯m paying you four is because big deals take a while to go through so I can sell a few pieces of copper separate from the shipment while prices are still high. Take it or leave it, you won¡¯t find a better price anywhere here,¡± said the weapons merchant while looking over towards a few other merchants nearby selling similar things that nodded their heads.


    Groups of merchants like these will often lock prices down and not compete with each other to secure better prices for things individually to benefit themselves as a group. I would get four coins or nothing at all, no more haggling. Jeff probably already knew this would happen and that¡¯s why he gave in so easily. At the same time, it¡¯s better than three silver coins so I should still thank Jeff later.


    I took the money and passed over the copper. As for the other ores, I thought it¡¯d be best to wait until a busier time so they can¡¯t lower the prices on me and stop any haggling again.

 Chapter 13: Slow Pace

    I separated myself from the merchant caravan and the town in general and sat down against a tree on the outskirts. My arm was itchy and I had to resist the urge to scratch at it. It seemed like it was already starting to grow back as I saw the skin at the end of the stubble started to bulge. With that out of the way, I felt a bunch of stress melt away as I relaxed and felt the mid-afternoon breeze roll past me.


    What do I do now? Wait for my arm to regrow or continue exploring the dungeon? If not for the fact that I needed the necklace to heal my arm, I could have searched for someone to recruit as a knight for the order, since an item from the goddess would be the best way to keep someone loyal. I was pretty sure that the reason why this was is related to why the jewelry merchant couldn¡¯t wear this necklace nor could I wear the ring.


    Items with divine power were limited in who could wear them. Namely, only people who worshipped that divine or in my case, the first divine item I used. Which also explained why knight orders only bought divine items from the divine they follow. They couldn¡¯t mix and match around different divine items with various effects. Which also explained why this shield wouldn¡¯t be popular with adventurer¡¯s as it locks them into only these two effects while other divines might have effects more useful to them.


    More endurance and healing sounded great in theory but most adventurers would want more attack power to go deeper into the dungeon or something to help them do techniques like wheat grinding. Endurance would be helpful in that case but there were probably a half dozen or more divines with an endurance effect and an offensive effect. For me, my divine was already decided while I was drunk and it was quite useful for my circumstances.


    After an hour, my stub hadn¡¯t changed much, still itchy but no major changes. Unfortunately, I couldn¡¯t rest and watch it visibly regrow or just instantly resprout magically. It was still magically coming back but at a pace too normal for my taste. Since that was the case, I decided to go back to Tom¡¯s bar and see if it was open. If so, I¡¯d grab the ale and either stay in my room or perhaps bring it with me as I look for a new place to stay.


    The bar was a lot fuller than it usually was at this time of day. It was far past the lunchtime rush. Tom was at the counter still serving people drinks. There were several people there that I didn¡¯t recognize, people who came for the merchants and those who came with. I took an empty seat towards the end and waited until Tom could take a breather and leaned against the bar near me.


    ¡°Since the merchants are in town you have to pay to keep the room. No more freebies. I cleaned it up and put the keg in my cellar in case you didn¡¯t come back and I had to rent it out to someone else. Saw something strange outside the window as well, sorry about that but nothing I can do to stop that sort of tomfoolery,¡± said Tom.


    ¡°Do you know of anyone renting out a small house or shack? I¡¯ve got some cash now and would like to have my own place and I¡¯ll pay off a part of the tab as well. As for the window business, I¡¯ll take care of that myself,¡± I said. If anyone was renting or willing to rent, Tom would know.


    However, it¡¯d be rude to not pay at least for the night I had stayed without paying any part of my tab first if I had the money for that. While my decision to get my own place was in part due to my ale being drunk without my permission, I had hoped Tom wouldn¡¯t take that personally. It was the same as saying that his rooms weren¡¯t safe to use.


    ¡°I know of at least three people renting and one or two selling, but I would advise against it. The prices are killer right now. Everyone¡¯s desperate for a place to stay with the merchants in town. Just buy another night here and I¡¯ll keep the keg in storage where no one except you can get to it,¡± said Tom.


    Tom was the most trustworthy person in town so leaving the keg in his care when I wasn¡¯t drinking it was for the best. I was tempted to ask him for a mug of it then and there when there was a commotion at the entrance. A group of men were dragging along a bunch of barrels, kegs, and bottles into the bar with a cheer from everyone inside. They were the new goods for Tom¡¯s bar, a large amount of the usual stuff to keep stocked and some exotic stuff for celebrations. And new stock was always a cause for celebration.


    One of the merchants went up to the bar and collected payment from Tom while the men brought the stuff behind the bar, stacked up on the side for Tom to organize and drag down to the cellar later. This merchant was the jewelry merchant from before and he moved towards me after the payment.


    ¡°Perfect timing my trade friend. I took over delivery and payment duties for a few places in exchange for a bottle of fine wine. This stuff is top quality. The grapes used to make it were mashed by the feet of virgins then fermented for ten years. I even got to watch the whole process and action. Before you even ask, yes the females washed their feet before doing this,¡± said the merchant while pulling a bottle out of his sleeve like magic.


    I had a feeling that no exchange had actually happened and it was more along the lines of embezzlement, but who was I to refuse a good drink. The way it was made was of no concern to me, age and flavor held more sway. However, the method this wine was created with did provoke some imagery that might improve the taste, or cause disgust. Which is probably why he mentioned the feet were clean.


    This was a part of the deal so I happily held out a mug as he poured it to the brim then started drinking from the bottle itself. For a second I had thought him to be generous then I realized I had only one mug while he had the rest of the bottle. That didn¡¯t stop me from enjoying the drink. For a wine, it was very dry. As in it felt like my mouth was drier than before it was wetted by the wine. It only made me drink more, hoping to quench this dryness only for the dry feeling to get worse.


    Dry wines caused that sort of vicious cycle. An alcohol that either made you drink more with reckless abandonment or slow down and enjoy the flavor and get used to the feeling it left in your mouth. The smell was great as well, an overwhelming stench of fruit that burned my nostrils if I breathed in too much of it.


    ¡°How is it?¡± asked the merchant as he rested his face on the bar while looking at me from the side. It seemed to be strong stuff to affect him this much so soon.


    ¡°It¡¯s delicious. Wine normally isn¡¯t my kind of thing but if I could get wine like this often, I wouldn¡¯t mind making it my thing,¡± I said.


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that be great? Not even a noble or someone from a knight order could drink this kind of wine every day. They don¡¯t sell much of it. Quality over quantity. They even limit how much you can buy, raising its value quite a bit. I would¡¯ve traded a full case of this wine for this ring you got me. I must thank you for this. What is your name? I¡¯d like to remember it by the next time I come around. Ah, how rude of me asking your name without saying my own. It¡¯s Svarath,¡± said the jewelry merchant who was apparently named Svarath.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to remember you name Svarath,¡± I started to say before I realized that the merchant had already fallen asleep. Such a weak drinker he was. Or maybe I was just a very good drinker thanks to my shield. I had never drunk this kind of wine before so I had no comparison of how it¡¯d be without my shield and I wasn¡¯t going to set it down. I still needed it to assist in my arm regrowing.


    Tom came over and wiped the table while taking away the bottle of wine that the merchant had been drinking from. He put a stopper on it and slid it onto the pile of drinks that were set down by the workers who had long since left onto their next job. I wondered if he planned on giving the wine back to him when he woke up or keeping it for himself.


    ¡°So, old friend will you tell us about your arm or that sword now? You were in a rush to hide in your room then run around town earlier but things seem a bit calmer now. Ready to open up?¡± asked Tom.


    I was. Now that my arm was regrowing, I could retell the story in good humor. With a few knocks on the bar, most of the people turned to look at me and I raised my stub. That caught their attention as I told them how I had lost the arm to the dungeon. The crowd followed my every word up until the point where the flaming sword chopped off my arm.


    At which they booed and stomped on the ground in anger. When I told them how I had defeated the sword in the end and that I took it for myself on my waist at that moment, the crowd cheered. It was as if they were the ones who had lost the arm, not me. Finally, I ended the story by saying that my arm was now regrowing without telling them why. Which made them complain and call me a braggart.


    In a few days, they wouldn¡¯t be able to call me a braggart. I let them believe I was lying, not giving them all the details so I could later surprise them with my regrown arm. To wrap things up, I pulled out my sword as flames spread across the blade before sheathing it again. That was enough to stir up the crowd and make them believe in my story a bit, if not all.


    Pretty much all of them bought a round of drinks after my story, much to Tom¡¯s delight. And with that, I decided my time at the bar was up. I downed the rest of the wine and headed out. Telling that story made me restless and worked up. With the alcohol in my system, I felt a bit impulsive. If I did not need to sleep or eat, nor could I go to sleep, then there was only thing I could do. I went to the dungeon and decided that I would do some more fighting, even with my arm still healing.


    The area was not empty as it usually was. There was a group of various people carrying weapons and wearing armor. Guards of the merchant caravan and adventurers who had tagged along, taking advantage of the local dungeon entrance for some extra income. Among them was Jerry, Chris, Matt, and one other person sitting together. They noticed me and Jerry walked up to me.


    ¡°Feeling a bit better now? I see a bit of space helped you come to terms with losing your arm and you decided to keep going. That¡¯s great news. Come over here and meet our newest member, Stephan. He joined us just yesterday and haven¡¯t had the chance to introduce you,¡± said Jerry. I decided not to humor him nor his friends, choosing to walk by them into the dungeon instead.


    It sickened me that he tried to act like everything was normal after what they did to me. Who cares about a new member? I planned on giving him a piece of my mind after my arm healed fully. Until then, him and his friends earned the silent treatment from me. If they would just admit what they did and made it up to me, I might even be willing to forgive them. I wouldn¡¯t work with them anymore, but I wouldn¡¯t treat them like I hated them.


    This wasn¡¯t the time to think about them as it was dungeon exploration time. In this first room, I found myself in an orange-ish brown area. And it was extremely hot to the point I was being drenched in sweat just standing there. At the center of the room was a monster that resembled a dog. Like the room, it was an orange-brown color and seemed to radiate heat. From its mouth came smoke as if the dog¡¯s insides were on fire.


    While the last dungeon was ice oriented and was to my advantage, it seemed like this dungeon played to my disadvantage. I drew my sword and it made the heat around me even worse and I felt tempted to drop the blade. The dog monster rushed at me on all fours. Not making the mistake of assuming the flames on the sword would do anything, I made a proper slash at the monster.


    It cut into the head of the dog creature hard, so hard that it was wrested from my grip and slid across the ground with the dog. The loss of balance caused me to collapse onto the scaldingly hot floor. At the very least, it seemed like my slash had killed the dog since it cut halfway through its head. Nonetheless, this was a less than optimal outcome to a fight.


    I dragged myself to my sword and quickly sheathed it as it burst into flames again at my touch. This was not a dungeon I could complete with one arm no matter how I thought about it. Heck, I wouldn¡¯t touch this dungeon even with both my arms intact. Using my spear would probably net similar results to the spear. Good enough to kill one with a bit of backlash but unable to handle two and the one might still injure me if I¡¯m not careful.


    With all of that weighing on my mind, I left the dungeon. I found myself back in the outside world, covered in sweat and breathing heavily. The cooler outside air felt great on my body and if not for the fact that there were people in the area, I might¡¯ve collapsed then and there. Jerry and his three followers weren¡¯t there anymore, heading back to retire for the day or back in the dungeon.


    A few of the adventurer¡¯s seemed to be whispering about something while pointing at me and laughing. They were making fun of me for the state I came out of the dungeon with since I had obviously been only on the first floor with how little time had passed. To them, I was a weakling who fled and sweated from cowardice, not someone who was forced to flee after facing a mighty opponent in a tough environment.


    Should I care about how they saw me? Obviously, I shouldn¡¯t have but did. To prove them wrong, I decided to re-enter the dungeon immediately. No resting or seconds thoughts about the dungeon until my arm healed. This was my chance to prove myself, not just to these adventurers, but to myself. So I dived back in for another go at the dungeon.


    This time the dungeon was a generic greyish silver color. And the monster was hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a water droplet about to fall from the top. I couldn¡¯t tell what the hell it was, but it was definitely moving a bit and I could see veins on its skin or whatever it was on the outside. Everything about it was weird and creepy.


    Seemed like a good time to use my spear but if I used that, it¡¯d be hard to tie it back to my back and it was weaker than my sword. Maybe the flames from my sword would provoke it since it was a living thing. That was my plan when I pulled out the sword and the flames brightened the area up quite a bit. I just noticed it was actually kinda dark and the color of the walls just made it seem bright.


    In response to the flame, the mass hanging from the ceiling started to move and unfold like an onion, revealing the beast inside. What I had thought to be skin was actually wings and the creature revealed itself to be an enormous bat. Akin to a rat with wings, it was a mass of fur with leathery wings and nasty looking teeth.


    I really didn¡¯t want to fight something like this. Giant rats and humanoid ones were bad enough, now one that could fly. It hung from the ceiling upside down and let out an eerie shriek that was extremely high pitched and hurt my ears. Falling to my knees, I kept my hand covering one of my ears and tried to do the same with my stub but failed. I could barely hear myself think against this enemy, much less concentrate on fighting it.


    Which just pissed me off. Who cares if it could fly? In such a small space it could do barely anything. I¡¯d cut it down just like I had cut down and bashed the brains out of the previous rats.

 Chapter 14: Knight Order

    While I was on the ground, holding my head down and covering my ears from the sound, the bat thing dropped down from the ceiling, flipping its body around and landing on its feet, no longer upside down. Then it started crawling towards me at a leisurely pace. At the time, I had recovered from the sound other than a ringing in my ears. Did it think that I was vulnerable and an easy kill?


    I grabbed my sword when it was only a few steps away and slashed upwards. It barely had any time to react to this I managed to complete my attack without too much resistance. For a moment there, I thought I had only grazed it or even missed it. Then, its head fell from its body. I had been lucky enough to decapitate it with my random swing. Its body fell to the ground and violently thrashed about until it finally came to a standstill.


    Faking weakness, or actually being weakened but recovering before the enemy expected me to was a good strategy. One I hoped to apply elsewhere if other methods didn¡¯t work first. With the enemies like this, I might be able to reach the sixth floor before being forced to leave or doing something like a grind or fish. However, I decided on leaving this dungeon.


    Who cares if I could defeat the enemies when I¡¯d go deaf in the process? My ears were ringing and I could barely hear myself groan from a headache. So much for proving I was actually tough but just down on my luck to the other adventurers. Once again, I was leaving the dungeon only a few seconds after entering it. Or maybe by this time they would get off their asses and go into the dungeon themselves.


    Once I was back outside, I found that they were basically all still there. Thankfully, I was still half deaf and couldn¡¯t hear their gossip. Jerry was still there as well, but not the others. He walked up to me and started trying to talk to me but I couldn¡¯t understand a word he was trying to say. After two failures in the dungeon, all I felt like was doing was finding a nice spot to sit down and drink, but he was blocking my way.


    Even more annoying is that my hearing was starting to come back in bits and pieces. Sometimes I¡¯d be able to hear what Jerry was trying to say normally but then my hearing would become sensitive and I¡¯d overhear an odd comment from the adventurers behind me. It got to the point where I wanted to shout at all of them to be quiet. Instead, I simply walked away into the forest a bit where I¡¯d have some privacy or would have some if not for Jerry following me. He kept talking on and on, mostly about my arm.


    I didn¡¯t care enough to pay attention as I shoved my finger into each of my ear holes and rubbed around as my hearing slowly cleared up. And when it did, I wiped my hand on Jerry¡¯s shirt. That thankfully got him to stop talking as he looked down at his shirt baffled by what I had just down.


    ¡°Alright, now that I can actually hear and you stopped talking, let me be clear about something. I know what you did with your friends when it came to my ale. Just come clean about it already,¡± I said.


    ¡°Ale? What are you talking about? And what do you mean by actually hearing me?¡± asked Jerry.


    ¡°Some sort of monster using sound attacks. I was recovering from it still, that¡¯s why I came here to be alone. Didn¡¯t work out too well. As for the ale, it¡¯s the ale I recovered from the dungeon. Your friends and Tom were the only ones who knew about it and I came back from the dungeon with my arm chopped off and half my ale drunk in the room I rented. Three mugs were lying on the ground outside my room and you guys saw exactly when I left the bar. Who else am I supposed to suspect other than you guys?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m serious. I have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. While I knew you were pissed off about something, I thought it was due to losing your arm and pushing the blame onto us for not giving you enough advice. Even now, I was going to talk to you about letting you retire without paying us back the rest we owed you so you wouldn¡¯t have to enter the dungeon in your current state,¡± he said back to me. If not for the fact that my arm was coming back, I¡¯d appreciate the sentiment of him cutting his losses on the debt for me.


    However, I still felt like he was lying or twisting the truth. After all, stealing from a one-handed man was far worse than stealing from an able man and he didn''t want to get that kind of rep. So, he was still claiming ignorance. Then again, I had an idea that would make him tell all no matter how much he wished the bury this incident.


    ¡°I know that you wish to join a knight order. What if I told you that the goddess I follow wants a knight order to be formed from scratch? Not just that, but I possess more than one of her divine items so the groundwork for at least one more member of the knight order is there,¡± I said.


    This was something he couldn¡¯t refuse since it was his dream to form or join a knight order, which is why he operated in a group. I didn¡¯t actually want to make him a member with the time he tried to rob me and how he betrayed me, but I wanted to hear him admit it and then crush his dream right in front of his face. Besides, I needed to hold onto this necklace and shield until my arm rehealed. It wasn¡¯t something I could give away.


    ¡°What sort of effects does your goddess grant?¡± asked Jerry while looking off deeper into the woods. He didn¡¯t want to face me as it¡¯d show on his face how he lied before. This was basically admitting the crime and he wanted to make sure the payoff for coming out was worth it. That was everything I needed but I decided to play along to see how far things could go.


    ¡°Endurance and healing. The necklace is double healing while the shield is one of both blessings,¡± I said while showing off the necklace and shield so he could confirm that they were both divine items with the same symbol, the same divine.


    ¡°Those aren¡¯t too useful for adventurers or knights. It¡¯s more of something for common people as it can¡¯t help you kill stronger monsters. I would rather have something like being able to shoot lightning out of my hand or increasing my strength,¡± said Jerry.


    ¡°Trust me, the hand lightning doesn¡¯t work out too well. Then again, healing won¡¯t help much either when you¡¯re being attacked by a hundred enemies at once,¡± I said while thinking of the young man that died during the convergence dungeon.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Jerry, having no idea what I was talking about.


    ¡°Nevermind. Just think about it this way, as someone who¡¯s been using these buffs I¡¯ve been able to avoid having hangovers, think clearly while drunk, and even heal from some pretty nasty wounds. Everything from bruises to cuts to back pain washes away within hours,¡± I said.


    ¡°With all that healing power, you still can¡¯t bring back your arm. They¡¯re purely support effects that can help keep you going in the dungeon with less downtime, but become useless as you get more used to the dungeon and have more of an issue with having enough power to kill dangerous monsters and survive encounters with elemental enemies,¡± said Jerry. Elemental enemies? Probably those beasts I fought for this sword and the dagger. Turns out they knew about them after all.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Now that¡¯s the best part, Jerry. I just got this necklace now after a particularly dangerous dungeon dive and with its power stacked with my shield, I¡¯m regrowing my damn arm right now. Which means if you join up you¡¯ll have to wait until it finishes healing my arm back. In exchange I¡¯d let you borrow the shield if you lose a limb later on,¡± I said while waving my stub in his face and pointing at how the skin was getting reddish at the end of it.


    Not sure why it was doing that, but I¡¯m thinking it was part of the healing process. Before I had imagined stuff like the bone healing first and having a skeleton hand then the muscles and skin and stuff growing over it. However, it seemed to be rebuilding stuff from the inside and stretching out the skin on the outside. Would the skin grow more as well or break as my bones regrow and need more space? Heck, giving it a little cut on the stub might help with the healing process, but my spearhead still had traces of monster blood on it and my other weapons were magic enchanted and would hurt me.


    ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true, then I do see it becoming useful as insurance if I get hurt badly in the dungeon and the endurance might help in day to day life. Alright, I admit it. Chris, Matt, and the new guy, Stephen went off and drank from your ale. They brought it up with me how you were holding out on some ale you brought from the dungeon and felt like we deserved it with how we loaned you weapons and gave you advice. I refused to take part myself and tried convincing them that you¡¯d probably share it later just like you did with the liquor. At the same time, I¡¯m just as guilty as I didn¡¯t stop them as they went off nor did I tell you about it,¡± said Jerry telling me everything about their theft.


    He still insisted that he had no part in it yet admitted guilt. Even if he was still lying it was close enough that he came out about it. As for making him join my knight order, I had until my arm healed to make a decision on that. For sure, with his knowledge of the dungeon, he¡¯d be useful. There were some issues with trust but he¡¯d be locked into only being able to be a part of my goddess¡¯s knight order if he joined, which guaranteed loyalty.


    Maybe Jerry joining the knight order wasn¡¯t such a bad thing. It seems like every day I change my mind about him. I definitely needed more people to help me and those people already having skills in the dungeon was preferable. However, was it really the best idea to hire Jerry? Literally, this situation was a life or death situation for me. Mistakes were not something I could afford too many of and it seemed like trusting him in the first place was already one mistake.


    ¡°Right, so until your arm reheals I can be an honorary member of your knight order, sir. We¡¯ll, of course, have Chris, Matt, and Stephen join as well. We¡¯ll have to work hard to get divine armaments for them so they can be official members. As for the incident with your ale, I¡¯ll talk to them about it,¡± said Jerry. He called me ¡°sir.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about that.


    Jerry walked with me as we went back to the dungeon entrance and waited for each of their members to pop out. None of them had found good grind or fish targets so we didn¡¯t have to wait long. Maybe ten minutes it was rather than the hour or so it would have taken if one of them found a good target. Each of them looked at me with a strange expression. Not sure if they were weirded out by my missing arm, imagining something similar possibly happening to them one day, or if they knew the gig was up and I knew they were the ones who drank my ale.


    Nonetheless, they all gathered up under Jerry¡¯s instruction and we walked back towards the outskirts of town. We weren¡¯t heading back to the bar as it would be packed even now and was no place for a good long conversation. At least, not one about something as serious as this. I would take a long talk over alcohol any other day. Not that the day was up yet.


    The place we ended up at was what I could only describe as a barn. It was a large one-room building with a large door which felt like it was designed with livestock rather than people in mind. We entered the building and it even looked like a stable with a variety of side rooms with only a door and walls up to my stomach separating it from the rest of the place. In the back, there was a long wooden table with a bunch of chairs. The table was covered in various items from ores to weapons messily piled up.


    ¡°What did I say about leaving the place like this guys? We¡¯re just asking to be robbed like this, go put it away,¡± said Jerry as the others rushed over to dump the ores into a nearby chest and the weapons were placed on holders on the wall. His words hit close to home with what happened to me. Was I really asking to be robbed when I simply left the curtains open and the keg on the table despite it being the second floor?


    ¡°So what¡¯s going on Jerry? Why¡¯d you drag us away from the dungeon so abruptly? Does it have anything to do with one arm over there?¡± asked Stephen, the new guy. I disliked him already and started to believe he might¡¯ve been the one swiping my ale instead of Jerry.


    ¡°He¡¯s one of us, before unofficially and now officially. We¡¯re now one group and need to establish a few things. From now on, call me the Vice-captain or sir rather than Jerry. We¡¯re going to establish a knight order from scratch by the order of a divine that wishes to have a knight order to its name and we even have two divine items belonging to that divine,¡± said Jerry, or should I call him the vice-captain now? He was really getting into this knight order thing.


    ¡°Uhh Jerry, I mean vice-captain, are you being serious right now? Are we really making a knight order ourselves? I mean I know we said we¡¯d join one together if we had the capabilities, but making one from scratch ourselves sounds absolutely crazy,¡± said Matt, understandably a bit overwhelmed at this announcement.


    ¡°If you¡¯re the vice-captain, who¡¯s the captain of the knight order?¡± asked Chris. He probably wouldn¡¯t like the answer to that question.


    ¡°More importantly, what effects does this divine grant upon their items? If it¡¯s something bad, I¡¯ll continue working with you guys, but I¡¯m not going to join the knight order fully and commit to that,¡± said Stephen. Not very loyal to the group but very practical it seemed.


    ¡°Simple. The one who owns the divine items and got the quest from the goddess is the captain here. I¡¯m totally serious about this matter as it¡¯s something we can actually do. As for the effects from this divine, it¡¯s healing and endurance. Which sounds a bit disappoint at first but get this, the captain¡¯s arm is regrowing currently. Once it regrows, I¡¯ll get one of the divine items and we¡¯ll all work towards improving our headquarters here and getting more items blessed by this divine. With this divine, we won¡¯t have to worry about injuries and can focus more on fighting aggressively,¡± said Jerry.


    The three of them looked at each other, gauging reactions and overall being unsure about the whole thing. After all, this was a major decision, yet not one they had to commit to yet as we only had two items. But once that second item was passed to Jerry, their friend they would rather stick with, it¡¯d be like them committing to it as well unless they decided to abandon their friend in favor of keeping their options open or going to greener fields elsewhere.


    ¡°This feels like some sort of joke suddenly making him the boss of all this. It¡¯s cool that his arm will come back but I doubt I¡¯d warm up to this whole healing and endurance thing until I get my own arm lobbed off. And I have no intention of letting that happen,¡± said Stephan, as if I had a choice in my arm being lobbed off.


    ¡°Whatever you say Vice Captain, I¡¯ll stick by your decision,¡± said Chris.


    ¡°I guess we can work with this. After all, we don¡¯t have to decide on this until his arm regrows. And those effects aren¡¯t really the ones I want but they would be awfully convenient. I have my doubts but I¡¯ll stay with you guys for now,¡± said Matt.


    ¡°As I said before, I dislike this but I¡¯m staying as it still benefits me. Maybe this whole knight thing will work out but even if it does I doubt I¡¯d stay unless as an honorary member. So yeah, I¡¯ll play along as we pretend to be knights,¡± said Stephen.


    ¡°Now that everyone is in agreement, I now declare us to be the knight order of,¡± Jerry started to say before looking at me. Oh right, I had never told him about the goddess¡¯s name.


    ¡°The Knight Order of the Goddess Sanae Patil,¡± I said, revealing the divine¡¯s name and making this a formal, or closest thing to a formal, formation of the knight order. I had no doubt that this was nowhere near enough to heal my liver but was good progress towards that goal.

 Chapter 15: Fishing

    With that all out of the way and the knight order supposedly formed, it was time to go back to Tom¡¯s bar to grab something to eat and get a mug or two of that ale before finding someplace to sleep. By this time, I imagine the room has been rented out so I was going to settle down somewhere outside. Right as I was about to leave, Jerry started to talk again.


    ¡°Alright, first business of the knight order is to apologize for stealing his ale for a few drinks. I¡¯ve already admitted that it was us and to prevent any friction in the new knight order we should all apologize and try to make up for the incident,¡± said Jerry.


    ¡°Wait you told him? I thought we all agreed to keep that under wraps,¡± said Matt.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t really do a good job of hiding that it was us. He would¡¯ve found out eventually. Alright, I¡¯m sorry for doing that captain. I was jealous that you managed to get so far into the dungeon and got a whole keg of ale that you didn¡¯t bother sharing with us. I was also jealous that you managed to fish up two ores in a single morning after two runs in the dungeon. Even now, you lost your arm and got a cool sword while your arm is growing back. I admire your luck and tried to back at you due to those feelings and that was wrong,¡± said Chris. He had quite a way with words.


    ¡°What ale? I have no idea what you people are on about,¡± said Stephen. I wasn¡¯t sure if he was truly ignorant and it was actually Jerry or if he was just a good actor. He just wasn¡¯t the kind of person I liked.


    ¡°No need for a full apology from everyone. I understand why you did it and I forgive you all. Let¡¯s put it all behind us and go grab some drinks. I¡¯m paying,¡± I said while pulling the leftover ores out of my shirt and setting them on the table.


    This was a risk, entrusting them with the rest of the ores. However, I had a feeling that this might actually grow into the knight order I needed. Maybe I was a fool to trust them after two incidents, but a part of me really wanted this to work out. Like they admitted they did it and apologized to me and now all I needed was enough divine items to give to all of them so it becomes in their best interest to support me.


    Actually, I just needed to share what I get from the dungeon enough that it became their best interest to support me even without divine items. Until then, I was going to get them drunk and see how they actually felt about the whole ordeal. Nothing like some beer to loosen the tongue.


    We all went down to Tom¡¯s bar and had a late lunch or early dinner. There would be food being made almost constantly with the merchants around. Even more so than during the harvest festivals. Plus, with the merchants around, it was easier to get more exotic foods from far away. As such, Tom was grilling up some strange bird that was the size of a pig and on the side, he was cooking what looked like a piece of greenish wood but was actually some sort of vegetable. Whatever it was, it smelled great and tasted okay. I honestly preferred chicken but it was nice to eat something different from usual every so often. Tom raised an eyebrow at me eating with Jerry¡¯s group again but served all of us with no questions asked.


    There was plenty of beer passed around and lots of chatting. Mostly about the formation of the knight order. I didn¡¯t really manage to get any deeper level of information from them while they were drunk. Mostly them being shocked that they were a knight order rather than a band of adventurers now. After drinking, they all went back to the headquarter or barn and brought me with them. Apparently, there was another bed in one of the pens that I could use. There were around twelve of these pens that bad converted into makeshift rooms.


    In fact, two of them were being rented out to some adventurers from out of town. That explained why Jerry was anxious about hiding their loot, but they left their weapons on display in plain sight. Then again, if those disappeared they¡¯d be easier to track down than the ores. Surprisingly enough, these rooms were quite nice for sleeping and since they could have a total of twelve people sleeping here at one time it did actually work as a pseudo headquarters of barracks that we could build upon and add more onto since it was on the outskirts of town.


    The next day, everyone other than me went off to the dungeon while I laid down in bed. The reason being is that my skin had ripped open and exposed my bone. I was in no state to go into the dungeon and used the cloth I normally used to tie my spear to my back as a sling to keep my arm in a better position and not move it. Even if my arm was healing back, there was no guarantee it would grow back properly without proper preparations.


    Days passed as my arm visibly grew. The other members weren¡¯t discontent as I did provide a bunch of ores before I went out of commission and I even pulled out the ale and drank it with them, not withholding it from them at all. It was a way of me telling them I didn¡¯t hold it against them and trusted them again. Maybe I really did. A part of me wanted to believe I was being cautious against them and purposely lowering my guard to see their true nature or something of the sort.


    As terrible of people as they were, I couldn¡¯t help but come to like them, except Stephen. Something about him just got on my nerves. Ironically, he might be the only decent person in the group. As it was revealed while they were all drunk from the ale that Jerry revealed he had drunk the ale before somewhere.


    It got to a point where my arm and hand were fully healed and I was ready to enter the dungeon once again after four days. A week after I had gotten the shield and this quest to create a knight order. My hand was still a little shrunk and my fingers slim, so I kept both the necklace and shield as I entered the dungeon. While I could have brought a new bludgeon with me, I decided to just use the spear and sword.


    By this time, the merchants had thankfully left town. Around the time they left, Jerry approached one merchant and managed to sell off most of the ores the group had collected over a month or two at an actually decent price. One of my ores had ended up being silver ore which raised the amount of coin we got by a considerable amount. It didn¡¯t matter too much to me as I had been bored these past few days of doing nothing but hearing from people about things that had happened.


    The first room of the dungeon this time around had a purplish hue and the floor was covered in water that just barely reached above my toes. This was very odd, and even stranger was the monster. It was a giant grey fish covered in scales, making it look almost reptilian in nature. However, the water level wasn¡¯t high enough for it so it was flopping around helplessly. I almost felt bad for it as my spear skewered its eyes and put it out of its misery.


    As bad as I felt about it, I was sorely tempted to wheat grind here as it would be completely helpless every time it spawned. On later floors, it was easy to expect what would happen. The water level would rise and it¡¯d be able to freely travel around and it¡¯d keep getting deeper and deeper until I¡¯d be forced to fight completely underwater. Then again, I really wanted to try out the fishing method as it was the only method I hadn¡¯t tried out, so I went to the next room.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    There, the water level had risen as expected and the fish monster stayed in one place rather than flopping around as it was high enough for it to breathe if monsters needed to breathe. Unlike the first room, this fish was able to react when I came closer. It kicked itself into the air and tried to slam its body into me. I was able to dodge to the side and then stabbed it with my spear.


    Except, I wasn¡¯t able to pierce into its body fully as I struck it on its scales instead of the eyes. Armored. Thankfully, its eyes were huge and easy to hit. Sliding the spear across the scales while keeping it pinned down, my spear found its way into its eye and finished it off. And then I went to the next room as the only way I could do fishing is if I went at least three rooms in then went back two.


    I would be fishing in a dungeon full of fish, the coincidence was not lost on me. The third floor was the first real challenge in this dungeon as there was enough water for the fish monster to actually swim. Although it was significantly harder to hit, there was a part of its body still above water, making it easy to track. And even better was the fact that its only attack was slamming into me, so I could touch it freely. The way I defeated the fish monster in floor three was by watching its swimming patterns, kicking it and keeping it pinned down under my foot and using my spear to kill it.


    Part of me wanted to try using the sword to see if it could cut into the armor-like scales on the fish, but the fact that there was water everywhere made me wary of using a fire sword. For all I knew, water could damage the blade or it would react with the water in some way to my disadvantage like exploding in my face.


    After killing that fish, I had the choice between going onwards or heading back to just try out fishing. And I instantly chose to head back. With my luck, if I had gone onwards I¡¯d encounter another elemental beast and get my newly healed arm chopped off again. That day my only goal was to enter the dungeon and try out the fishing method. Nothing more, nothing less.


    Passing through the second floor, I saw the fish slowly decomposing from the inside while the scales stayed mostly intact. It was tempting to bring a scale out with me to test if I could, but I could try that with one of the fish in the first room. Back in the first room, I sat down and felt the water soaking my pants slightly but it was better than having to stand the entire time.


    Within fifteen minutes, a new fish monster fell from the ceiling almost instantly and started flopping around. There was no long, drawn-out sequence of the fish squirming through the wall, it just fell. Which was nothing to complain about as I got up and skewered its eye. The faster they came in, the easier it was to kill them.


    The fishing technique showed its worth as the next one came within ten minutes, then five, and then it was back to only being one minute between each monster. Rather than having to wait hours for things to drop down to one a minute, it only took a little under half an hour. And then the grind started as I walked around killing every fish that fell from above before they could even react, not that they could do anything even if they could react.


    After killing about fifteen of the monsters, an ore dropped and fell into the water. I picked it up and slid it into my shirt and it made my shirt soaking wet. This was extremely inconvenient, keeping things within my shirt. Every time I moved or fell down, they chafed and cut into me. My desire for some sort of bag or rucksack grew like the wet spot on my shirt.


    Around fifty kills in, I was forced to switch my weapon. My spear got stuck in the head of one of the fish monsters and another fish dropped before I could pull it out. Either the dark dagger or the fire sword were my options. Or I could just ignore the fish as it couldn¡¯t do anything in this amount of water and continue to pull the spear out. Then again, these monsters could do strange things when there was more than one of them.


    As I didn¡¯t want to get onto my knees every time I killed one of the fish, I pulled out the fire sword despite all the water. There were none of the problems I expected to happen. In fact, the sword worked better than expected as it could kill the fish with ease. If I struck its scales, the sword would cut through them and kill the fish by cooking it from the inside. If I stabbed into its eyes, everything within its head would melt into a soup that not only the sword couldn¡¯t get stuck in, but it also didn¡¯t stick to the blade.


    It resulted in far cleaner kills than the spear. Just to make sure, I even dipped in the water and it did nothing other than extinguishing the flame at that part of the blade until it was brought out of the water and reignited. Even then, it cut through the fish¡¯s scales without much trouble. The blade was sharp without the influence of the flames.


    For almost an hour I constantly killed monsters, barely keeping track of how many I had killed. It wasn¡¯t until a second ore dropped that I considered what to do next. Kill more monsters for an hour or so until the next loot came out or leave to grab a drink and some food. My stomach growled in response so I ignored the fish that fell from the ceiling and went out the exit. There, I found Chris and Stephen sitting down in the grass nearby, taking a break from work and chatting idly.


    They waved at me but made no attempts to start a conversation so I started walking towards town. As I was leaving the area, I heard them whispering to each other but didn¡¯t understand what they were saying. It didn¡¯t matter anyway. A private conversation or two was to be expected and it¡¯d be rude to barge in uninvited. They could have been talking anything from the new knight order to girls.


    Back at Tom¡¯s bar, I found an unusual situation. There was a group of heavily armed strangers despite the fact that the merchants had already left. Which meant these men could be anything from travelers to adventurers. If they were merchants, they would¡¯ve followed the caravan as it had the benefit of being well guarded and hard for bandits to raid, saving on traveling costs when it came to protection.


    There were a total of nine of them and they all wore similar looking armor. When I went up to the bar and ordered some food and a beer, I noticed something that shocked me. The symbol of a divine on various items they held. These were no mere adventurers. These were full on knights, all of them following the same divine and heavily armed, there was no doubt about it.


    The one sitting next to me noticed my staring and looked back at me, glancing at my shield and necklace. He smiled at me but I didn¡¯t feel like it was a friendly smile. It felt inherently hostile, which made no sense as it was a smile. I felt like if we weren¡¯t in a town, he would have cut me down where I stood and even rested his right hand on the pommel of the sword on his waist.


    ¡°Nice to see a fellow believer of a divine in town, especially one that happens to be good at collecting,¡± said the knight, pointing out the fact that I wore not one, but two divine items.


    ¡°What brings a prestigious knight such as you to such a small town as this?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Just looking around. Our knight order, the order of Mans Tontrua, ends up traveling throughout the lands quite a bit. Without a permanent home as of yet,¡± said the knight. For some reason, that unnerved me.


    If a knight order decided to move here and stick around, it would interfere with my plans and might even force me to go to another town to complete the task. Especially with a knight order like this who obviously disliked me or my goddess.


    Between my knight order made from scratch with only two divine items and this fully decked out knight order, who would people rather join? Then again, who knew if they would even accept people to join them. However, if they stuck around people would avoid joining my knight order simply to keep their options open to join this one. For all I knew, Jerry and the other would jump ship at the sight of this knight order.


    After all, I had kept a hold on all the divine items and never gave one away. So, they could always leave and the knight order was in name only. Everything was falling apart at the seams.

 Chapter 16: Mans Tontraus Grudge

    There wasn¡¯t any further interaction with the knights in the bar. I ate my lunch and then took my leave, barely remembering what I even ate with how tense things were and then rushed back to the headquarters to share this new info about the knight order. While that seemed counterintuitive to let them know about it, it would be a good way to test their loyalty and they¡¯d likely find out anyway. After all, knight orders functioned similarly to adventurer groups and would head to the local dungeon entrance in time and bump into the other members eventually.


    At the headquarters, I found everyone already gathered chatting with each other. There was also a bunch of bags lying next to some of the unused stable rooms. Which meant that people were renting them out. Did the knight order buy a house or two then the tenants came here to stay or did merchants come along and I somehow didn¡¯t notice?


    ¡°Good timing captain, we have some news,¡± said Jerry.


    ¡°I have news as well. There is a knight order that came into town. I bumped into them at Tom¡¯s place,¡± I said.


    ¡°Same as my news then. You¡¯ve already found out. However, this works to our advantage as they¡¯re renting out our spare rooms in our headquarters. They apparently dislike staying in multiple places like splitting up between the rooms in Tom¡¯s place and a few willing landlords. We made a deal with them and they¡¯re all staying right here,¡± said Jerry.


    Just as I had suspected, these rented rooms had something to do with the knight order. However, I didn¡¯t expect it to be the knight order itself. With how hostile they were to me, I wasn¡¯t too comfortable with the idea of them staying under the same roof as me. However, there was a problem if my math wasn¡¯t wrong.


    ¡°I thought there were nine of them in the bar yesterday, not seven. So I guess they¡¯re doubling up here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Nope, all nine of them. Stephen and Matt are going to give up their rooms later today. They¡¯re paying us more than enough for them to rent someplace else. The excess cash will go towards getting them new weapons or armor from Jeff so they¡¯re fine with it,¡± said Jerry.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been needing a new hatchet as this one¡¯s gotten a lot of chips in it and I don¡¯t mind staying at my old family¡¯s place for a few nights. It works out well for me,¡± said Matt. His hatchet did look really worn out. Not sure why we didn¡¯t have it repaired before, we should have plenty of funds for that.


    ¡°It¡¯s annoying to change to someplace else when I¡¯ve had my room all set up the way I like it. I don¡¯t really know too many people in town so I might just have to stay in the upstairs of Tom¡¯s bar, but the ruckus from downstairs would keep me up all night,¡± said Stephen.


    Did he really dislike Tom¡¯s place that much? The beds were far comfier and the sound could be drowned out with a few drinks and if that didn¡¯t work, could always join the noise downstairs until it died down. Then again, people without this shield would get a hangover with that and they were always going to the dungeon early on. I was sorta envious of him because he got to sleep away from the hostile knights and in a comfy bed, or did he?


    ¡°No, Stephen keep your bed. I¡¯ll move out of my room for the next few days and stay at Tom¡¯s. I don¡¯t mind the noise anyway. In exchange, keep an eye on the knights as they seemed a bit rude if not a bit hostile,¡± I said.


    ¡°Thanks, that¡¯s a relief. I¡¯ll keep my eye on them, but in my opinion, they¡¯re just a bit prideful since they¡¯re an actual knight order,¡± said Stephen.


    Even when I tried hinting at how hostile these knights might be to us, he still thanks me for trading places with him. He couldn¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn him when they turn out to be terrible neighbors. Not that I hoped he would die, just that he might suffer a bit from this situation. After all, these knights may be rude and hostile, but they¡¯d have no reason to actually attack anyone.


    ¡°Truly a model captain, giving up his room for the newest member. I¡¯ll go with you to Tom¡¯s place since I haven¡¯t eaten yet and pay for the nights you¡¯ll be staying there,¡± said Jerry.


    ¡°Maybe we should wait a bit since the knights are still there,¡± I said.


    I didn¡¯t want those knights to know I was staying at Tom¡¯s place. Nor did I want to bump into them at all. That was the whole point of staying at Tom¡¯s, avoiding them until I knew if it was safe to be around them.


    ¡°Right, we need to clean out the areas you and Matt have been sleeping in so we can let them know it¡¯s ready to move in if we bump into them,¡± said Jerry, misunderstanding what I meant.


    My room didn¡¯t have anything in it so we just had to clean things up which didn¡¯t take long. Matt¡¯s room, on the other hand, was filled with a variety of knick-knacks and empty bottles and mugs lying about. By the way, despite calling me a model captain, Jerry, as the vice-captain, had no intention of giving up his room for Matt. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was on purpose or he genuinely didn¡¯t make the connection.


    Chris, Matt, and Stephen started heading back to the dungeon for another run while Jerry and I went back towards the bar. On the way there, we bumped into the group of knights who were on the road to go towards the dungeon. I kept silent while Jerry talked with them about which rooms were theirs and what not. Thankfully, there wasn¡¯t any sort of conflict and while they looked scary in their full plate armor and none too friendly, they remained peaceful.


    A part of me wanted to be wrong about them. After all, it was just a gut feeling that they disliked me or even wanted to kill me. If I was wrong about that, it would be nice. There were also stories about how people stronger than you would give off an aura that made them seem terrifying. My feelings might just be due to me reacting to their strength. But that didn¡¯t make any sense as everyone else seemed quite casual around them.


    Once Jerry explained everything, we went our separate ways. While passing by them, one of the knights stuck their shoulder out and bumped into me, knocking me onto the ground. Why would he do something like that out of nowhere?


    ¡°Oh sorry, I didn¡¯t see you there? Hope I didn¡¯t hurt you,¡± said the knight in a monotone voice. The apology felt empty and meaningless. He did that on purpose and tried to brush it off as an accident.


    I watched in shock as they moved on as if nothing had happened. Then Jerry offered his hand and helped me get up. He didn¡¯t seem to care too much about what had happened. Either he was ignoring it on purpose to avoid conflict or he genuinely believed the knight¡¯s story about it being an accident. Since he didn¡¯t bring up anything about it in conversation, I didn¡¯t either, choosing to keep quiet about it.


    In the bar, we found Tom with a broom out, brushing a bunch of food scraps into a pile while one of the afternoon drinkers helped him wipe down the absolutely filthy bar table with a rag. The area was where the knights had been before and they had left a huge mess.


    ¡°What happened here, Tom? Looks like the lunch hour did a number on you. Hope you haven¡¯t thrown everything into the pot for dinner yet as I¡¯d like a portion even if it¡¯s just some scraps,¡± said Jerry.


    Poor Tom had to deal with this terrible mess and still people like Jerry would bother him about getting food past the usual serving times. As if I wasn¡¯t torn about how I felt about Jerry enough already. I really needed to get my arm healed and pass this necklace over to him soon.


    ¡°The knight order that came to town recently wasn¡¯t very refined in their eating habits. Which is nothing new, large groups tend to be messier than individuals. Just wish they tried to be a bit neater. Half the time it felt like they were deliberately spilling stuff or dropping it onto the floor. As for lunch, I haven¡¯t even had the chance to throw the rest in the pot so you¡¯re in luck,¡± said Tom.


    They probably were doing it deliberately with how rude they were. What did they stand to gain by acting like this? Was this just how they usually acted, acting away the same as home? Or were their intentions more malicious? All I knew is that I just wanted them gone, and quickly at that.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Jerry happily dug into a portion of food Tom quickly slapped in front of him that was probably cold by now while I helped out with cleaning. It was the least I could do and was promised a free beer for the help, likely the reason the other bargoer was helping. I had to pass some time until Jerry set up the room with the funds for our knight order and he prioritized getting his fill of food first. Then again, I would also eat before dealing with a place to stay the night.


    Once Jerry finished eating, he waved towards Tom and said, ¡°How much would it cost for the captain here to stay for a week? The barn¡¯s getting a bit cramped and we¡¯re renting a lot of space for a decent price.¡±


    ¡°Captain eh? Is that what people are calling you now?¡± asked Tom of me while ignoring Jerry¡¯s question. Captain was as good as name as any.


    ¡°At least the people in my newly formed knight order, as minimalist as it is, call me captain. Maybe one day I¡¯ll deserve the name,¡± I said.


    ¡°I still don¡¯t understand that business, but I¡¯m fine with you renting a room for a week or so. Just make sure that you stay well, lend me a hand once in a while without having to regrow a new one afterward, and pay back your debts when you can,¡± said Tom. At this point, I might have actually had enough money to pay off my tab but as most of the finances were managed by Jerry, I wasn¡¯t sure.


    I could always request that Jerry use some of the money to pay it off, but there were things like Matt¡¯s new weapon that took priority. He always seemed to be keeping a tight hold on the group¡¯s cash and I wasn¡¯t completely sure about that. Sometime I would have to confront him and make sure he wasn¡¯t embezzling. As for right now, there weren¡¯t any signs of money disappearing, in fact, there was plenty of cash in our so-called war chest with the new tenants. So, I was content to think of him saving up money to build a new, proper headquarters, or have enough money to buy a divine item of Sanae Patil the next time the merchants came through.


    Since that one jewelry merchant knew of my affiliation, he probably would try to buy any relevant divine items for me. I would do the same for him in the dungeon, but my chances were far more slim and random than his. Nothing I could do but find some other divine item or maybe an enchanted one I¡¯d be willing to part with along with some cash to buy it if he finds any.


    Jerry and Tom began negotiating the price while I focused on my free beer, which always tasted better than a paid one even if I had the cash to pay for it. They quickly agreed upon a price that was probably in Tom¡¯s favor. Which was fine as Tom had given me plenty of free things and I owed him a lot, so him fleecing me a bit when I had money was no problem. In fact, if it was still in Jerry¡¯s and as a result, my favor, then my debts to Tom, monetary or morally, would increase.


    ¡°Alright, now that we¡¯ve got your room set up, would you like to come with me as I get a new hatchet or something similar for Matt or will you try challenging the dungeon again?¡± asked Jerry.


    ¡°I¡¯ll go with you to Jeff¡¯s place as I haven¡¯t been there in a while and I also picked up a few ores in the dungeon. Might as well pay for the weapon with those and keep a bit more cash on hand,¡± I said.


    I had only challenged the dungeon out of boredom and to try out the fishing technique. My hand was still a bit small and awkward to use so I thought it¡¯d be best to rest one or two more days. The more I rested, the faster my hand would heal. Or at least that was how I expected it to be. Honestly, I had no idea how it worked but I had done more than enough work for today.


    Most members of our knight order would only bring back one ore or none at all each day, mostly due to being unable to find a good dungeon after a bunch of attempts or tiring before the fishing or grinding would bear fruit. Just by grabbing two ores in this one day, I was pulling just as much weight as Stephen for the whole week, making up for my time off.


    When we reached the smithy, we noticed something a bit strange. The door was partially opened which would normally send Jeff into a fit of rage as he shut it immediately. Even if Jeff left the smithy for a time, he would close it up and lock the door to keep anyone from prying it open and letting out the heat. Even Jerry saw this as serious as he ran up to the door and peeked inside.


    The smithy was a complete mess with tools, scrap metal, and ores lying all over the ground. Jeff was rushing around the place, trying to clean things up and putting everything back in the places he always kept them or expected them to be. With this much of a mess, he had likely been too busy to even notice that the door was cracked.


    ¡°Jeff are you alright? The door was open a crack,¡± said Jerry.


    His words seemed to send Jeff into even more of a rage as he threw a piece of metal he had been putting away across the room. It might have been better to just ask what had happened and left out the part of the door. After all, he would have never found out if not told. We could have just closed the door behind us with him none the wiser.


    ¡°No, not alright,¡± said Jeff, which was obvious from the state of the smithy.


    ¡°What happened here?¡± asked Jerry, another silly question.


    ¡°Who did this?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Followers of Mans Tontrau. Messy pricks they are. They bear a grudge,¡± said Jeff.


    The knight order from before again. This time it couldn¡¯t just be explained away by them being in a group and messy eaters. They were purposely trashing places. But why would they bear a grudge if they¡¯ve never been here before?


    ¡°A grudge?¡± asked Jerry, finally bringing up a good point.


    ¡°Against my god. And by extension, anyone related in some way,¡± said Jerry.


    Against Jeff¡¯s god and if I remembered correctly, his god was allied with mine which is why he made me that belt and sheath. If Mans Tontrau was hostile with Jeff¡¯s god, it stood to reason that he was hostile to my goddess. This explained everything. I was not paranoid. They acted upon the whims of their god to an extreme. Since they couldn¡¯t attack me or Jeff in town, they were instead rude to us and made messes.


    Such a petty course of action, but it worked. I was angry at them and also afraid of being alone with them. It was the right course of action to sleep at Tom¡¯s from now on. Best to also make sure they wouldn¡¯t find out I was there as there was nothing to stop someone from climbing up as demonstrated by the people in my knight order. Even worse is the fact that they might do bad things to the people who stayed at the headquarters. I needed to warn Jerry and Chris about this.


    ¡°Jerry, we need to go to the dungeon and warn the others. Mans Tontrau is the divine of the knight order in town and they might damage the headquarters or other things in the name of their god. My goddess does not have a good relationship with their god,¡± I said to Jerry as urgently as I could.


    ¡°Are you sure about that? I mean maybe they just got annoyed with Jeff not talking enough and people make messes at Tom¡¯s bar all the time. We shouldn¡¯t come to conclusions so quickly,¡± said Jerry.


    In such a desperate situation, Jerry still had doubts? We were literally an informal knight order under a divine hostile to ours and it wasn¡¯t like we could hide that fact. They saw me with Jerry and the whole town knew about the knight order no thanks to lots of drunken bragging. It wouldn¡¯t take much for them to make the connection and take action to sabotage us.


    ¡°What would I have to do to convince you of the importance of this situation?¡± I asked Jerry.


    ¡°Well, technically we¡¯re not officially a knight order as the only person with any divine items is you,¡± said Jerry while looking at my necklace, ¡°Perhaps, I could be convinced by being a bit more involved. I know you need to finish healing your hand but you were able to do a dungeon run so maybe I can have it during dungeon runs while you hold it at night to finish the healing process?¡±


    He made no attempt to hide his desire. Without a divine item, he didn¡¯t feel like a true member of the knight order nor was he truly loyal. His suggestion was good but it still annoyed me. This situation was obviously important but he held out on purpose to force my hand. I could do it all myself but without Jerry¡¯s support, it would be much harder as he was acknowledged as the true leader of the group, vice-captain or not.


    I reluctantly took off the necklace and pass it over to Jerry. My neck felt weird without it after wearing it for a week and immediately felt the itchiness from my hand healing disappear, replaced with a feeling of tightness as if my skin wasn¡¯t long enough to cover everything. Yet, my hand functioned just fine without any stiffness. I still wanted to heal it fully at some point.


    Jerry held the necklace by the cord as the symbol of Sanae Patil shone in his face. He was fascinated yet didn¡¯t put it immediately on, even frowning a few times. If he put it on, he¡¯d never be able to wear another divine¡¯s item and would be considered my divine¡¯s follower. Or not, I wasn¡¯t totally sure how divine items worked as I might be able to wear another divine¡¯s item if I just didn¡¯t use the shield for a while. After a few minutes of contemplation, Jerry put the necklace on and became an ally I could hopefully trust.


    ¡°What now?¡± I asked Jerry.


    ¡°Do we know for sure that Mans Tontrau is hostile with Sanae Patil?¡± asked Jerry.


    ¡°No, but I know we¡¯re allied with whatever divine Jeff is with and his divine is hostile with Mans Tontrau,¡± I said truthfully. It was a logical assumption.


    ¡°Is there any way to make sure?¡± asked Jerry, still trying to worm his way out of helping after receiving the necklace. Or perhaps trying to avoid causing hostilities where there were none.


    ¡°We could ask Sanae Patil ourselves in the temple. Not just me, but even you can do it with that necklace. Just pray while kneeling with your hand over the symbol. Works in any temple or place of worship apparently,¡± I said.


    Without another word, Jerry started heading towards the temple. I followed along as I wanted to check myself if my assumption was correct. It would be nice to say hi to Jeoffry and check my progress on the quest to heal my liver. For all I knew, I might have already completed the quest with the informal knight order and adding Jerry to the membership officially with the necklace.


    When we reached the temple, like Jeff¡¯s smithy and Tom¡¯s bar, there was a mess that Jeoffry was dutifully trying to sweep up. Dust and dirt boot prints covered the floor of the temple. We didn¡¯t even need to ask Jeoffry to know what happened and he wasn¡¯t in the talking mood. The two of us found a quiet corner and started praying. I wondered if it would be different for Jerry since I was granted a quest or if it was simply the same for everyone.

 Chapter 17: Confrontation

    I met with the goddess and I could feel Jerry¡¯s presence there as well. Everything was laid bare in this ethereal state. Knowledge of my quest¡¯s end goal, my goddess¡¯s relation with Mans Tontrau, and even things about Jerry entered my head. It was an unusual experience that seemed to last hours but I knew would only last minutes in reality. Eventually, we woke up and looked at each other with a new understanding, both good and bad.


    ¡°I knew you were one of three that drank from my keg. Things didn¡¯t add up with Stephen being the third perpetrator. Not just that, but you¡¯ve considered running off with the money for the group several times. I believed that you would put it to good use for the knight order,¡± I said.


    During my time with the goddess, I had seen glimpses of memories from Jerry. Mostly ones leading up to him joining me like his desire to steal my shield, his envy of my ability to get so much from the dungeon, and his dreams of becoming a knight. However, there were ones like him drinking my ale with the others and knowingly ignoring the irony of commending me for giving up the room while not doing so himself. As for the money he¡¯s been hoarding and not spending on the group, he saw it as his money and embezzled from it a few times.


    ¡°You did and thought of some pretty rude things as well. Constant doubts about the knight order you created with me and thinking about keeping the necklace to yourself even after your hand healed. Then there¡¯s the dark dagger you¡¯ve hid from us and all that silver from the copper ore you still keep on your person, worrying about whether or not to give it to Tom to help pay off your debts or save it for what exactly? You¡¯re the same with money as I am, just you¡¯ve been trying to get freebies constantly to keep yourself from using it,¡± said Jerry and everything he said was correct.


    If I had known that praying together would have produced a result like this, I would have never done it. Now it was too late and Jerry knew too much about me for me to ever cast him aside. Not that I didn¡¯t know plenty of secrets about him that he wouldn¡¯t want to be revealed as well. As embarrassing as it was, perhaps this was a good thing. Everything about us was revealed to each other so there were no more second thoughts about things. We knew how we felt about things and what we wanted to do, with many of our goals overlapping to a degree.


    ¡°Let¡¯s work together to make this knight order a proper thing,¡± I said.


    ¡°Of course, after all, your life is on the line while I have no other avenues to achieve my dream. We¡¯re past the point of no return. I would say sorry, but we both know I¡¯m not sorry. So how about some mutual acceptance of our differing opinions and actions?¡± asked Jerry. That was quite the mouthful but it was better than an apology he didn¡¯t really mean.


    ¡°Right, now to deal with Mans Tonrau¡¯s knights, or at least minimize the damage they¡¯ll cause to us,¡± I said.


    Unfortunately, my worst fears had come true and the knights hated the divine we served and would stop at nothing to inconvenience us. As their god wasn¡¯t an evil one, they would not kill or heavily injure us unless we attack first. They only kill in self-defense and to achieve that, they would relentlessly annoy us and maliciously damage us in ways not directly harming us to trigger a response.


    The best option was to find a way to kick them out of the headquarters and warn the others not to react to their provocations. After that, we¡¯ll¡­ do something. We can¡¯t really force them to leave and if we leave, what would they do in the town? Would we even find anything left of the headquarters if we left and came back? What would happen to Tom, Jeoffry, Jeff, and the other townspeople who had done nothing wrong?


    ¡°So, what do you think cutting our losses by selling the barn and leaving town with the others for a month or so? I¡¯ve always wanted to visit the city,¡± said Jerry mercilessly.


    ¡°What about the townspeople?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We can warn them all. It¡¯s up to them if they believe us and take our advice or not,¡± said Jerry.


    That was true. If they knew about Mans Tontrau and their grudge against us, it would no longer be our problem and they might even approve of us leaving town. The sooner we left, the sooner the knight order would leave in their eyes. If only it was that simple.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just go to the dungeon and grab the others. They¡¯re the ones in the most danger and the knights were heading that way. Best not to leave them out of sight for too long,¡± I said.


    On the way to the dungeon, I paid far more attention to the surroundings and noticed changes. There were parts of the ground on the paths through town that were dug up for no reason and some houses had scratches on the wood. Little things that added up. All it took was nine men to chip away at an entire town, to create a feeling of being unwelcome.


    Nine men bearing weapons and plate armor along with any number of divine or enchanted items. They could do whatever they wanted and no one could stop them. Complaints from the populace would fall on deaf ears until they took action and lost. Blood would be drawn in such a situation, none of it from the knights. In a way, it was worse than the knights attacking the town outright.


    At the dungeon, we found the others standing around the entrance of the dungeon, which was blocked by the knights. It seemed like they were trying to enter the dungeon but the knights refused to let them. All the while, the knights refused to go in themselves, making the blockade all the more unreasonable. I heard one of the complaints as I got within earshot.


    ¡°What¡¯s the point of stopping us from going in? We all go to a different place inside. There¡¯s no competing over resources and the order we go in is pointless. Just get in there and we¡¯ll go after you,¡± said Chris.


    ¡°Just stop it, Chris. They¡¯re not listening to us. Let¡¯s just wait until they lose interest and leave us alone,¡± said Matt.


    They went silent as soon as they noticed us walking up. The knights of Mans Tontrau reacted to our presence as well with one of them walking up to me. It was the same one I had sat next to at Tom¡¯s bar.


    ¡°Hello there again. I see that you¡¯ve multiplied like cockroaches, filthy believers of Sanae Patil and wannabe knights. We¡¯ve already crushed your predecessors and we¡¯re not afraid to stomp you out before you even become a problem,¡± said the knight.


    So that¡¯s why Sanae Patil wanted a knight order to her name. She had one before and it was destroyed. That would have been nice to know back in the temple.


    ¡°We¡¯re not afraid of you. Stand aside and give us access to the dungeon,¡± said Jerry. Which wasn¡¯t true, we were very afraid of them.


    ¡°Not for the next hour. We¡¯re going to cause a convergence artificially and if you go into the dungeon, you¡¯ll get caught up in it. So, don¡¯t use the dungeon or we¡¯ll treat your presence as an invasion on our dungeon run with the intent to harm or sabotage us,¡± said the knight. In other words, he¡¯d use it as an excuse to kill us.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Then go. We won¡¯t enter until the convergence effect is over,¡± I said.


    ¡°No, you won¡¯t. Not at all. This dungeon entrance is now our personal property. Anyone who goes in without our permission is trespassing and will be dealt with,¡± said the knight.


    ¡°You can¡¯t claim ownership over the right to enter the dungeon. The dungeon is everywhere and is something anyone can publicly enter,¡± said Stephen, jumping into the conversation despite not fulling understanding what was going on.


    ¡°Watch us. The dungeon is free to enter anywhere other than here for you all. With the exception of you three if you leave this fake knight order,¡± said the knight while pointing at Chris, Matt, and Stephen.


    Exploring the dungeon for loot was currently their livelihood. Not being able to do that was tantamount to being jobless. They would have to find work elsewhere to make a living. That, or betray us by leaving the knight order officially so they could use the dungeon again. It was a decision I hoped they would never have to make or at least one I''d like them to make under different circumstances such as offering them a divine item from Sanae Patil.


    None of them spoke up and the Mans Tontrau knights went over to the dungeon and pulled out an item that made the color of the dungeon¡¯s portal change from an almost holy white to a menacing dark blue color that swallowed up all the knights one by one. Inside the dungeon all nine of them would be in the same place, defeating monsters with ease and making it to later floors with much less effort.


    Although the others didn¡¯t speak of leaving, there was no doubt the thought was in the heads. Loyalty to us wouldn¡¯t put food on the table. Unless we cut into our savings to try and subsist until the knights went away or we found a solution to this conflict. There was nothing more we could do at the dungeon so we went back to the headquarters silently.


    Of course, the headquarters was trashed and looted of all the stored ores and weapons. Thankfully, the money was kept on Jerry¡¯s person so not all was lost. Stephen, Chris, and Jerry went into their rooms to find all their stuff broken or thrown about. Matt and I got out of this relatively unscathed, but that wouldn¡¯t last. Who knew how long it would take for the knights to go after Matt¡¯s family or for them to go upstairs in Tom¡¯s bar.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to kill them. I was annoyed when they kept us from the dungeon, but breaking my stuff is unforgivable. I don¡¯t care how well armed they are, I¡¯ll take at least one of them down,¡± said Stephen as he flew into a rage, ranting and raving about.


    ¡°Calm down. We need to figure out what¡¯s going on before acting,¡± said Chris quite reasonably.


    ¡°Do we need to figure anything else out. They¡¯re coming after us because of the divine we¡¯re making a knight order for. I¡¯m sorry, but I might have to leave if it stays this bad. My family needs the extra income from exploring the dungeon and I¡¯ve already been taking back less so the knight order could save up money for things,¡± said Matt, also a reasonable thing to say.


    None of them had a real reason to stay with us beyond friendship, monetary ties, and loyalty. Money wasn¡¯t flowing too well and loyalty couldn¡¯t be kept on friendship alone. I would not hold it against them if they left, though personally, I wished they would all stay.


    ¡°Stephen, that¡¯s what they want us to do. Their god holds them back from killing unless we try to kill them first. All you¡¯d be doing is giving them an excuse to draw their swords on us. We¡¯ll get your revenge somehow, but not by fighting them head on,¡± said Jerry.


    For around an hour, there was back and forth arguing about what to do. No one could find a solution that didn¡¯t have some sort of major downside. Everyone wished we could magically make the knights go away but they were here to stay. Eventually, we decided that we would try to counter their strategy by annoying them.


    After all, if they could not strike us but could harass us, could we not do the same. Until we attacked them directly, their hands were tied. So, we camped outside the dungeon, waiting for them to come back. Even after the portal turned back to white and we could enter without ending up in the convergence, we held back from going inside while taking note that they couldn¡¯t prevent us from going inside the dungeon completely.


    Finally, after night fell, they exited the dungeon in a group and were met by us circling surround them in a half circle. Their hands immediately fell to their swords and unsheathed them within seconds. Stephen couldn¡¯t help but pull out his weapon too, but no fighting ensued. They had tried to make us panic and attack before it seemed like they could, and we almost fell for it thanks to Stephen. Once again, Stephen managed to make himself even more dislikeable in my eyes.


    ¡°What¡¯s this supposed to be? Were you hoping to ambush us, take us unaware? Such a petty trick would only quicken your demise in the eyes of Mans Tontrau and to our amusement,¡± said the knight.


    ¡°We know that you cannot do anything to us unless we do something to you. So no, we¡¯re not ambushing you. This is simply a greeting. You can choose to push your way through and leave. We¡¯ll enter the dungeon in your absence. Or you can stay for a while and we¡¯ll stay just as long to see who¡¯ll snap first. There¡¯s always the dungeon behind you if you want to run away as well,¡± I said.


    It was surprisingly satisfying to say that and confront them now all together. It felt like I was taking all the frustrations they sent our way and throwing it back into their faces. At this point, I really was willing to wait things out as long as necessary.


    ¡°I¡¯d sooner chop your arm off than give into your weak pressuring. Just know that if you go into that dungeon, you might not find a town when you come back. Everyone here is a hostage of ours,¡± said the knight.


    ¡°I already lost my arm once, I can lose it again if I so choose. As for destroying the town, you¡¯ve already started doing that and you can¡¯t kill anyone. As long as the people live, the town can rebuild. No matter how you justify it, killing the entire town would make your god look bad,¡± I said.


    There were no more words spoken as we stared each other in the eyes, gauging how serious the other was. The knights started to get impatient, moving around and wanting to fight. Stephen put his weapon away but kept reaching towards it to try and psych out the knights in front of him. Matt seemed like he was about to run away any second now while Chris and Jerry stood stock still as if they had done this a thousand times.


    The knights conceded first, granting us a victory that felt somewhat hallow as they pushed past us and walked towards town. A win was still a win and we couldn¡¯t help but smile as we watched the knights walk away. Before they disappeared from our site, the knight who had been talking to me before shouted back at us.


    ¡°If you dare to enter the dungeon, you will no longer have a home in this town!¡± he shouted.


    Those words were empty as proven by the results of our standoff. It was tempting to just go back to the headquarters and sleep after this long day, but we decided to all go on a dungeon run to spite the knights. With that win, we were all pumped up and went in high spirits. If only we had an item with a convergence effect, we could enter the dungeon together and take it on in a group like they had done.


    Once again, I was all alone in the dungeon. For the first time, it was a relief to come here as it was isolated from the troubles on the surface. Everything around me was purple, including a monster flying in the air. It looked like a dragonfly with its long body and a double set of very thin wings. Flying enemies left a bad taste in my mouth after last time, but now I had the fire sword to help me out.


    I pulled it out of its sheath and watched as it let off a bunch of smoke but no fire. For some reason, the blade could not burn and created a constant plume of smoke. After a fit of coughing, I sheathed the blade and pulled out my spear. If the sword didn¡¯t work, I¡¯d try the spear again and hope this insect was a slow one.


    It lifted up its tail and shot towards me in a straight line. I lifted up my spear to meet it while keeping my shield at the ready in case it was needed. Needed it was as the insect slipped to the side and dodged my spear and continued onwards toward me unimpeded. Its charge was only stopped by my shield and with it in such close range, I dropped the spear and reached for the dagger in my shirt.


    The fast bugger tried pulling away with from the glint of my dagger as only a glancing blow hit it before it dropped to the ground twitching. Dead just from that? There weren¡¯t any visible wounds and it seemed like the dagger had only skimmed it, not even drawing blood if it even had blood. For all I knew, it was faking its death so I stomped on it, splattering green fluids from its body all over the place with a sickening crunch and low squeal of air being released. Not sure if that meant it was still alive or if it just made that sound every time its shell was broken.


    Who cared as it was dead now and I had a new strategy of beating it. Why even bother with the spear or sword if I could just block it and then swipe at it with the dark dagger. After all, it seemed to have quite the effect on monsters and I had been neglecting it for far too long. Mostly because it required me to get up close and personal with monsters. However, with these insects, it was going to be hard to stop them from getting close with their maneuverability and my fire sword¡¯s issue.

 Chapter 18: Gut Feeling

    In the second room of the dungeon, I didn¡¯t even bother to hold up my shield. I lifted up my dagger and held it out in front of me while positioning my left leg back a bit so my body was facing the insect from the side. This was a method of making me a smaller target or something like that so it¡¯d be forced to go towards my dagger. Or so I was told by Matt a few days ago.


    He was very interested in learning how to properly fight as he felt that the dungeon could be cleared easier through a combination of good weapons and even better skills at using them. Which made sense since I had some pretty good items but ended up near death simply because I didn¡¯t know how to use them properly. I should have spent more time on the relatively safer first six rooms learning how to use my weapons properly granted the enemies aren¡¯t too hard.


    Thankfully, these insects, unlike the bird, would fly straight towards me, and didn¡¯t have any sort of special ability like that bat creature. As soon as it closed in, I swung the dagger at it and it tried to dodge, but it got nicked by the tip of the blade, or perhaps it was something like the fire sword where it doesn¡¯t have to directly touch the enemy to harm it. Whatever it was, the bug fell onto the ground and instead of stomping on it, I looked towards the entrance to the next room and found it open.


    The next few rooms went the same way, other than a mistake in the fourth one where I missed completely. However, it had no chance to attack me and I killed it on my second swing. There wasn¡¯t much of a difference between standing normally and standing with my side facing forward. I kept at it anyway as I never knew if I¡¯d miss again and it¡¯d get the chance to strike.


    After beating the sixth room, I moved onto the seventh without much thought. This trip into the dungeon was mainly to spite the knight order and there wasn¡¯t any particular goal. Since I managed to find a dungeon I could handle fairly well, I decided to go as far as possible, or at least until a point where I wasn¡¯t comfortable with going further. Reaching the break room would be nice as I had finished off the keg of ale a while ago and it¡¯d be nice to have a good draught.


    Room seven was the same as it always was, a sudden jump in room size and two monsters. They decided to fly at me one on one, with one of them waiting in place with the other charging. This made it easier to fight, but it meant the second one would probably be harder to fight as it would watch and learn from my fight with the first. As expected, I dispatched the first one and then looked towards the other.


    It acted exactly like the first, going straight towards me. I tried slicing it with my dagger while lifting up my shield, expecting something to happen that would make my strategy fail. Instead, it dropped to the ground dead just like that. To my shock, there was no change in their method even though it failed. Even more, its dead body collapsed upon itself and turned into an ore. That was just stupid.


    If this behavior continued onto later floors, it¡¯d be the equivalent of wheat grinding there as they¡¯d come one by one, doing the same thing and dying. Which wasn¡¯t anything to complain about. For some reason, the fact that nothing new happened almost disappointed me. Which was baffling that I would prefer something to happen that could potentially harm me. Then again, if I got harmed, I could easily borrow the divine item from Jerry and heal myself.


    Borrowing the divine item so soon after giving it to Jerry would just be unfair to him. My new goal was to avoid being injured to the point where I would need the necklace to recover. At the same time, I wouldn¡¯t give up on taking risks when necessary. So rather than a goal I¡¯d actively seek, it was more of a matter of luck and being cautious.


    Room eight and nine went the same way, other than there being no loot dropped. Much to my delight or disappointment, the tenth room went the same way. Three bugs that didn¡¯t learn and came at me one by one and died just the same. Surely at some point, things would change.


    The twelfth room finally presented a change in the bug''s behavior with four of them in the room at once. Two of the bugs latched onto each other, the head of one of them latching onto the tail of the other. Then one of the other two bugs came at me. Distracted by the unusual combined bug thingy, I almost missed the bug coming at me. Nonetheless, I killed it and the next insect as well, leaving me in the room with just the two insects that had combined.


    Despite their odd behavior, they still came at me as usual. When they closed in on me, I decided to just treat it as if it was only one of them and swung my dagger, only to miss completely as it stopped two arms lengths from me. Before I had the time to lift my shield or try getting closer to swing again and hit, it swung its tail towards me, followed by the other insect whose tail pierced into my chest.


    This was bad news. No pain, just pressure and a feeling of panic set into me. In an instant, I reacted by cutting off the tail of the insect stabbing into me. It instantly died and stopped moving its wings, dragging the other insect down to the ground where I stomped on it. All of the monsters were dead but I had some sort of stinger stuck in my body. Who knew what it would do if it stayed inside me.


    My hand gripped it and tugged, sending intense pain throughout my body while it refused to budge. It was in there good. What was I supposed to do? I couldn¡¯t leave it inside me. The healing can¡¯t help with something like this. Perhaps it¡¯d prevent me from dying to any poison or stop the wound from getting infected. As for pushing it out of me, or keeping it from harming me further if I so much as move funny, my shield could do nothing.


    There was no other option but to cut it out. I reached for the dagger and pulled it close to my chest. Then I remembered how much damage it did from just tiny scratches and nicks on enemies. My fire sword was no good either as it constantly spewed black smoke whenever I pulled it out. Better than flames but who knew what that smoke would do to my wound. The spear would have to do.


    I held the tip of the spear close to my chest and my hands started shaking. Throughout my life I had been cut and hurt hundreds of times, even losing an arm, yet I couldn¡¯t bring myself to cut into my own body like that. There was just something unnerving about it. Fears that I would slip and hurt myself more than necessary and there was this increased sensitivity when I knew what would happen. My chest hurt just thinking about the spear¡¯s edge. Which could also be attributed to the stinger lodged in there, but still.


    Ten minutes passed of me sitting down trying to hype myself up. My body was covered in sweat and both my arms were shaking violently. This was all from stress as much as it seemed like it was poison from the stinger. Heck, if the stinger was poisoned things would be easier as it would become a life and death situation where I couldn¡¯t come up with excuses as to why I shouldn¡¯t do it. The last time I was like this was years and years ago, but still in the dungeon.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Since I couldn¡¯t do it, I stopped trying and decided to move on. I continued onto room thirteen because I was confident that I could match the bug now that I knew its gimmick. The necklace from Jerry wouldn¡¯t help with this stinger at all, so there wasn¡¯t much of a reason to return to the surface. Going to the surface was still the better option as someone could help me with the stinger, but I wasn¡¯t thinking straight.


    The next room was a rest area. I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt about that. On one hand, it was nice to find it as I could eat and get a drink. On the other, I was looking forward to facing the insect¡¯s strategy again and countering it somehow and had mentally set the rest area as the time to leave the dungeon if I reached it.


    In the middle of the room was a familiar bottle, wine, the very wine that the jewelry merchant had shared with him, but in a larger bottle. The bottle that the merchant had was only big enough for three to four mugfuls. This bottle was enough for seven to eight, double the size. I recognized what it was by its label but was confused about its size in comparison to the original. This was the first time I was having a drink that I first drank just recently so perhaps the sizes were always off from what I actually drunk and just didn¡¯t notice. It seemed like only the taste and alcohol content was replicated while the container was simply similar.


    Now that I thought about it, how could the dungeon find this information and replicate it so accurately? It was scary to think about how far the dungeon¡¯s reach was beyond these rooms and entrances. Or was it pulling this information from my memories and desires somehow? Both options were terrifying.


    With a stinger in my chest down here and nine knights on the surface intent on screwing me, I needed a drink desperately and happily popped the cork and started chugging down the wine. Barely any of the taste stayed in my mouth at that rate but the heat and kick were ever present. It warmed my insides and I couldn¡¯t help but shake my head a few times in reaction to the aftertaste.


    A few moments passed with me sitting there as the alcohol set in and gave me a pleasant buzz. All my worries washed away. Other than the stinger in my stomach, all was well in the world in this small bubble called room thirteen. If this was even in my world still and not a separate one.


    Eventually, I grabbed my spear and brought it up to the stinger. I still didn¡¯t want to do it but it was easier to bring it closer and my hands didn¡¯t shake. Soon enough a small cut was made just below the stinger that drew blood. Every last hair on my body stood on end when I did that. Progress was made and it encouraged me to go on. With another mouthful of wine, I cut into my own body at the base of the stinger and cried out in pain.


    As a grown man I was expected to hold it in or just grunt. No one was around so I just let it all out, swearing like a sailor while crying like a baby. I had to cut deep as it was half a finger¡¯s length in and even when I got the blade underneath it, it refused to come out, getting caught on the sides. Left with no other choice, I made more cuts at different ends around the stinger and had to cut it out with a chunk of my flesh attached to it.


    Finally out of my body, I got a good look at this damnable thing and saw needles sticking out of the sides of it that curved upward. It was barbed like a fishing hook. The damn thing was designed to be hard to pull out even if the insect was dead and separated from it. Blood started to pour out of the hole in my chest and made me start to feel weak.


    I tore some more cloth from my pants and dumped some of the wine onto it to make up for the fact it wasn¡¯t too clean then pressed it against the wound. The alcohol burned and the wound throbbed. It felt even worse than the time my arm was chopped off. Tears streamed down my face freely and snot dripped from my nose. Such an injury would heal with the shield¡¯s assistance but it was an experience I would never want to repeat.


    About twenty more minutes passed until I finally let off with the pressure and found the cloth stuck to me. Which was probably a good thing for now as I had to get up and move, so having something to cover the wound was nice, especially if it reopened from the movement. And as soon as I tried getting up, my legs gave out. The pain was instant and vicious, stopping me from doing anything.


    It took a few more mouthfuls of wine and ten minutes of coaxing myself until I managed to get up. Then another ten minutes after I leaned over to pick up the cork for the wine bottle and the bowl of miscellaneous food. Then I finally started heading back towards the entrance. All I wanted to do was make it to the surface and go to sleep. There was no way I was going to fight further with this wound.


    The only thing I had to be thankful for was the fact that the stinger didn¡¯t hit any organs or major veins and arteries. Just muscle and fat were affected by it and the procedure to remove it. As I moved through the dungeon, every step stretched my skin and flesh around the wound, irritating it. Before long, I was limping, favoring the right side of my body as that didn¡¯t hurt the wound as much.


    A little over an hour had passed since I entered the dungeon, but thankfully that wasn¡¯t long enough to make any new monsters to pop up. However, with the mechanics behind fishing, I knew that I couldn¡¯t linger and had to keep going through each of the twelve rooms without resting. It was easy to start resting with a wound like this and hard to stop. Fifteen minutes could pass in what felt like seconds if I so much as sat down or leaned against the wall for too long.


    It was so much of a relief as I exited the dungeon and started heading towards town. None of the others were there and that was just fine to me. I didn¡¯t feel like talking with anyone. Sleep was the main thing on my mind. It was hard to keep going and keep my eyes open as limped towards Tom¡¯s bar. Not even ten steps later, I was forced to stop and shake off some of my fatigue.


    A plume of smoke rose from behind the treeline, towards the outskirts of town, very close to here. It gave me a bad feeling as so much smoke could only mean one thing, a fire. Redirecting towards where the smoke was coming from, I walked through the treeline slowly with a sinking feeling in my gut even worse than the hole there.


    On the other side of the treeline was a massive bonfire where a building once stood. Near the flames were a few people. Jerry and Matt sat on the ground a ways away from the fire. They just stared into the flames with blank looks on their face. Chris and Stephen were likely still in the dungeon and didn¡¯t know.


    Barn, headquarters, or whatever it used to be was now a glorified campfire. They burned it down. The place where I had lived for a week and the others had called home for far longer. The knights of Mans Tontrau warned us that they would do this if we entered the dungeon and we had brushed their words off as nonsense, or empty words. This was them backing their words and making their statement literal.


    My wound seemed minor in comparison to this and I couldn¡¯t even bring myself to go up to them, to try and comfort or reassure them. In a way, this had been my fault as my divine and the forming of this order lead to this situation. If I hadn¡¯t formed it as a way to test Jerry, this would have never happened. Or at least, they would have focused solely on me and I might¡¯ve been able to handle it better.


    There was nothing more I could do. Of all my equipment, I could only make the flames worse with the fire sword and there weren¡¯t enough people to carrying buckets from the river to put it out. If it was closer to town, the risk of the flames spreading would bring the entire town to our aid. However, with it being on the outskirts, it was just more convenient to let it burn. Even if it was put out, it had burned for so long already that nothing could be salvaged from it.


    I limped away, back towards Tom¡¯s bar which was thankfully unscathed. None of the knights were at the bar so I limped up the stairs and went to my room. Then immediately shut the curtains, hoping that would make it harder to tell I was there or that it would offer some form of protection. If not for the wound, I might have gone out of the way to try and blockade the window.


    The rest of the day was spent by nibbling away at the food bowl and sipping a bit of wine until sleep took me far away from reality. Not far enough as the day¡¯s events ran through my mind as soon as my eyes closed.

 Chapter 19: Leaving Town

    For the first time in what seemed like forever, I woke up with a raging headache and hangover. The shield offered no relief from this pain, probably because it was focused on the wound on my stomach. I should have asked Jerry for the necklace before I came here and passed out. To relieve the pain, I found the bottle of wine on the side of my bed and gave it a quick swig. Nothing like the burn of good alcohol to help with a hangover and it actually made me feel better.


    Every other time I had tried this advice to drink when hungover to feel better, it had always made me feel worse. Never stopped me from trying and finally, it did some good. There was also some food leftover in the bowl that I ate to help myself wake up and fill my stomach. With that all done, it was time to start the day and I lifted myself up only to feel my entire body recoil.


    Rather than pain, it was more like being sore and having a cramp in the same spot. It took me a few minutes just to let the pain pass and then I finally got up and walked towards the door, bringing the wine with me. I would need it to get through this day, a lot of it.


    Once I managed to drag myself downstairs, Tom came up to me and wrapped my arm around his neck, half carrying half dragging me to the counter, which was once again trashed. A large helping of food was placed in front of my face. I had already eaten but the smell of hot food got to me and I started eating. After all, I didn¡¯t have to eat it all and any leftovers would be put into the pot for dinner.


    Where was the pot anyway? It was usually right behind the counter for Tom¡¯s convenience when he tossed any leftovers in it. I looked around a bit and found it lying on its side in the back corner with two holes in it, likely caused by a sword or ax stabbing into it. Those bastards messed with Tom again.


    ¡°Let me see your wound. I know you¡¯re hurt. You limped in here last night and had a hard time coming down the stairs this morning. Whether or not you can heal an arm doesn¡¯t make the wound any less serious in my eyes,¡± said Tom while wiping the counter slowly. The entire counter was filthy and the rag wasn¡¯t helping too much.


    I wanted to say that it was nothing or that it was fine but decided to just lift up my shirt and show the wound. It was fairly serious without the necklace and Tom was seriously worried. The piece of cloth that I placed against it was still stuck there and drenched with red, either from blood or the wine, or a combination of the two. Then again, blood turns brownish after aging a bit, so this was probably from the wine. To test it I wiped my finger on it, sniffed it, and then licked it to be sure and it indeed did taste like wine, but a bit saltier than usual.


    Tom was confused about what I did and then looked at the wound closely and even had me peel back the rags to reveal the hole beneath. He let out a sigh of relief after taking a look at the wound. It was deep but not that serious and already starting to heal and close up. The most annoying part is that it was very wide as I had to cut so much around to get the damn stinger out.


    ¡°I thought that this new knight order had put a blade into you, but this is more of a maim or injury from the dungeon, am I right?¡± asked Tom. So the reason why he was so set on seeing the wound is because he thought it was very deep or hit a vital and was caused by the knights.


    ¡°Yes, I got hit by an attack that got stuck in me like an arrow that I had to cut out as it couldn¡¯t be pulled out. I¡¯ll be all right in a few days. I¡¯m just limping because it strains the area around the wound less,¡± I said to Tom honestly to get him to stop worrying about it.


    ¡°Jerry came over earlier this morning and said to meet up at Matt¡¯s family house when you get up. I saw what happened to the barn and I wish I could have helped. Seemed urgent so you should get over there soon, but don¡¯t strain yourself. Jeff was also looking for you and is apparently leaving town. Which is a pity as it was a boon to the town not having to buy new tools every time something broke and not having to travel all the way to the city with his blacksmith shop here,¡± said Tom.


    The thing with Jerry was probably about the barn or headquarters burning down and what to do next. So, I pushed that back in my priorities and focused on Jeff leaving town. It was a move to avoid the knight order and save himself from continued harassment. A move I might just have to do myself. I decided it would be best to visit Jeff first then go over to Matt¡¯s family to see the others, but first I had one last thing to say to Tom.


    ¡°Would you blame me if I left town as well? The knight order is here because of me and yet I want to run away and leave you and everyone else in town to deal with this mess. And it won¡¯t end just like that if I go,¡± I explained the full truth of the situation to Tom to see his reaction.


    ¡°I would prefer if you paid your debts before leaving town. However, I wouldn¡¯t blame you one bit. After all, what could you even do if you stayed? Don¡¯t blame yourself for anything that happens. Also, keep that dagger of yours hidden, some people might take offense to it,¡± said Tom. Since I had pulled up my shirt, he had seen the dark dagger I usually kept hidden. However, it was fine since it was Tom.


    In response to his statement about the debts, I pulled out all the silver coins I had on me and the ore I fetched from the dungeon and placed it in front of Tom. As I didn¡¯t fully know the value of the ore, I wasn¡¯t sure if it paid the whole debt, but it was all that had. By paying off the debt at this moment, or a good part of it, it was the same as saying I would be leaving town. I¡¯d like to think that the decision wasn¡¯t set in stone as I hadn¡¯t consulted the others yet, but I knew what they would say.


    As Tom said, what could we do by staying. Staying or leaving changed nothing. The knights would trash the town while injuring or killing anyone who resisted and we couldn¡¯t stop them. They went as far as arson when we defied their words. If we left town, there might not be any town by the time we come back. Just like how there was no home when we got back from the dungeon.


    I walked out of the bar and headed towards Jeff¡¯s blacksmith shop. Hopefully, he hadn¡¯t left yet so I could talk with him about his decision. Maybe his reason for leaving could reassure me in some way that it was the right thing to do. When I reached the shop, I found it completely barren. The doors and windows were all wide open while the shelves and walls were cleaned out. It was jarring to see it so empty and cold. How had he cleaned it out so quickly?


    A hand landed on my shoulder while I was staring at the shop. Jeff¡¯s hand, blackened by coal and coated in layers of callous, was pulling me away from the shop and to a carriage. This carriage was completely loaded with everything from the blacksmith shop. He really was leaving and was ready to go anytime. The only reason he hadn¡¯t was that he wanted to talk with me first.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°I¡¯m leaving. I¡¯m a smith, not a fighter. The town is in your hands now,¡± said Jeff, intending to push all the responsibility of stopping the knights to me. Yet, I couldn¡¯t do it either and he should know that.


    ¡°I might be leaving as well, Jeff. While I¡¯m a fighter, this isn¡¯t a fight that I can win nor one I truly want to start,¡± I said to him. He seemed taken aback by this and looked at the ground for a few moments.


    ¡°A temporary retreat to prepare for a proper fight in the future. I have every confidence that this town will be saved one day by your hands,¡± said Jeff as he climbed into the carriage and got the horses going.


    His carriage rode off away from town, towards the South. He had far more confidence in me than I had. Of course, if I had the strength to face these knights I would, but that would take years of hard work to achieve. They had nine well armed and trained members with who knew how many enchanted and divine items on their person. To fight them, we¡¯d need at least nine of our own, possibly more since their god probably granted them offensive options on their divine items. Double or triple their numbers and just as well armed or more armed should work.


    Perhaps in the city, we could find the necessary numbers and build towards the equipment necessary to fend these knights off. Like Jeff said, this was a temporary retreat, not a full surrender. Then again, it¡¯d be nice if these knights had already moved on by the time we mustered enough forces to fight them. Moved on without destroying the town or hurting anyone of course.


    The family home that Matt moved into after he got kicked out of the headquarters wasn¡¯t too far off. It was towards the outskirts of the town and was surrounded by steadily growing fields of crop. The residents here were farmers and if not for becoming an adventurer, Matt may have become a farmer himself. At this point, it seemed like he¡¯d have to go back to being a farmer if he decided not to leave town.


    Just outside of the front door of the house was a puddle of blood. The knights couldn¡¯t have killed them. There was no way they could justify cutting down some innocent farmers. Was this why Jerry wanted me to come here, to see what had happened? Or was I overthinking things and no one actually died?


    I pushed through the door and found Jerry, Chris, Matt, a whole group of people I didn¡¯t recognize, and Stephen in a pool of his own blood all huddled together in the middle of the room. Stephen was missing a limb, his left leg and was currently wearing the necklace I had given Jerry.


    ¡°Thank goodness you¡¯re here. Quick give Stephen the shield so his leg can regrow,¡± said Jerry.


    While I disliked Stephen, I didn¡¯t wish for death or disability upon him and obediently passed over the shield. Immediately, I felt an ache in my stomach and sat down while lifting up my shirt in a way that showed the hole but didn¡¯t reveal the dagger. Blood started flowing from the wound again, so I pulled out the wine and tore off a rag, once again pressing against the wound with a wine-soaked rag to try and stem the bleeding while keeping things clean.


    The others panicked seeing me in this situation and Jerry even tried passing the shield back to me. I refused it as Stephen honestly needed it more than me at the moment. With that out of the way, ten people at once tried explaining the situation to me and it was a pain to understand it all. Basically, after Stephen found out about the barn burning down he came after the knights and tried attacking them. In response, they chopped off his leg and taunted him about how he would bleed out and no one could help him.


    Thankfully, Jerry had heard the commotion because he followed Stephen when he stormed off, hoping to stop him from doing anything stupid. He failed to do so but managed to keep Stephen from dying to his wounds. Then he dragged Stephen back towards the burning headquarters where Matt offered to bring him back here to get him treated. Meanwhile, Chris finally made it out of the dungeon and helped out.


    Once Stephen was safely here, Jerry went to Tom¡¯s bar to see if I had come back and found out that I had made it back and passed out. Rather than waking me, he decided it was best to just leave a message for the morning and was just happy I didn¡¯t die in the dungeon. He probably would¡¯ve reacted badly if he knew that I saw him at the burning headquarters and purposely avoided them. On the other hand, if I saw them dragging a bloodied Stephen, I would have stepped in to help no matter how tired or injured I was.


    Stephen was one of the knights in our makeshift order, one of my allies or subordinates or what not. It was my duty to make sure that he was okay and accomplished that job for now by giving up the shield. He owed me for that and would surely pay it back since he was now forced to be a follower of Sanae Patil to heal his leg.


    ¡°We need to leave town,¡± said Chris, being the first one to bring up the inevitable.


    ¡°How can we leave with both the captain and Stephen injured?¡± asked Matt.


    ¡°Chris is right. We need to leave before anyone else ends up like Stephen. Then there¡¯s also that,¡± said Jerry.


    ¡°That? What is that?¡± I asked Jerry, confused about what he was talking about. Was there another reason to leave that popped up since we last talked?


    ¡°It¡¯ll bring us nothing but trouble. We should just get rid of it. Maybe even give it over to them in exchange for them leaving us alone,¡± said Matt. Was it something related to the knight order, something valuable, or something else?


    Jerry pulled out something from his pocket, it was a bracelet with a divine sheen to it and a symbol upon it. The symbol was Mans Tontrau¡¯s symbol. It was something that those knights would stop at nothing to get if they knew about it. Perhaps they already knew about it before we even got it and this was the entire reason that they came here. That or Stephen managed to swipe it during the fight when he got his leg chopped off somehow.


    ¡°Shut up Matt. We can trade this away for another divine artifact of Sanae Patil or a decent sum of cash. In fact, it might even buy us multiple divine artifacts. It¡¯ll find its way into their hands, but if we sell it we can at least have something in return and sleep easy knowing they¡¯d get fleeced out of a small fortune to get it. If we just pass it over to them, we won¡¯t get anything from it,¡± said Chris. This made a lot of sense. There¡¯d be plenty of merchants in the city and a ton of various divine items to sift through. There would be one or two Sanae Patil ones for sure.


    ¡°Alright fine, but can I hold onto it? I want to make sure it¡¯s safe by my own hands since I was the one to find it. It¡¯s my first major loot from the dungeon,¡± said Matt, revealing where it came from.


    ¡°No, the captain or vice-captain need to keep a hold of it. We wouldn¡¯t want someone accidentally putting it on, do we?¡± asked Chris while glaring at Matt.


    Chris was implying that Matt wanted to defect to Mans Tontrau. It was suspicious how eager he was to just pass on the bracelet or to hold onto it.


    ¡°I¡¯ll hold onto it for now. Chris is partially right as I¡¯m a believer of Sanae Patil I cannot wear the bracelet. It¡¯s best for me or the captain to hold onto it. However, once we trade it in for the right kind of divine item, Matt will be the one to get it after we use it to help speed up Stephen¡¯s healing. He earned it,¡± said Jerry, mediating the situation surprisingly well.


    Matt seemed a bit dissatisfied with the results but had no choice but to accept it. And it seemed like we had all decided to leave. After all, we¡¯d have to go to the city to trade in the divine item. We¡¯ve established that we wanted to trade it in and skirted around the entire conversation about whether or not to go.


    ¡°We can¡¯t wait the full week or so for Stephen¡¯s leg to heal so we have to go fairly soon. Preferably this afternoon to minimize the chances of us bumping into the knights. The only reason we aren¡¯t leaving now is because of the captain¡¯s bleeding and the fact that none of us have eaten a proper meal nor slept properly. Let¡¯s all eat and take a short nap to get our strength back,¡± said Jerry. I was the only one who had gotten a good night¡¯s sleep and food I suppose. Then again, I needed plenty of booze to do that.


    While the others started to eat or take naps, I sat there keeping pressure on the wound while Matt¡¯s family went around helping everyone out. They replaced my rags with something cleaner with a poultice to help with the healing process and offered me some food that I refused. Since the new bandage went around my entire chest, I didn¡¯t have to keep pressure anymore and was able to rest. It took some effort to make sure they wouldn''t see the dagger when they helped put it on. Before long, I started to rest my eyes and passed out for a time.

 Chapter 20: Departure

    I woke up after being gently shaken by one of Matt¡¯s family members. They were really nice people who treated us like family in this harsh time. If only we could stay here and protect people like this and the rest of the town from the knights. The only one with the guts or temper to do anything was Stephen and he got his leg chopped off for it.


    Which begged the question of why they would only cut off his leg? Wasn¡¯t this the knight order that had destroyed the past knight order of Sanae Patil? At least, that¡¯s what they claimed to have done. Surely if there was a full-scale knight order, they would¡¯ve had far more divine items than us and demonstrated the full prowess of the divine items, regrowing extreme wounds in a short period of time.


    As much as I wanted to know why, it wasn¡¯t important at this moment and it was better that Stephen had survived rather than them making sure the job was done. I dragged myself off the ground and per the directions of Matt¡¯s family, went outside to find a wagon with a donkey pulling it. It was a far cry from Jeff¡¯s horse-drawn carriage but it was best we could scrape together with such short notice.


    Most of the space in the wagon was taken up by Stephen and the luggage, from food supplies to whatever weapons and personal belongings we had left. Jerry and Chris sat in the front area, with Chris steering the donkey and Jerry continuing to rest. Meanwhile, Matt and I had to walk. There simply wasn¡¯t enough space for us to get on the wagon comfortably and there was only one donkey pulling it so the weight was already beyond the donkey¡¯s comfort. I didn¡¯t mind too much as the wagon went down the road at a leisurely pace, but Matt was annoyed and kept complaining every ten minutes.


    We headed North, towards the closest city. Its name was Somum Nov and was almost as big as the capital due to its location and the trade routes going through it. The trip would take us about two days if we kept going at a good pace. Hours and hours of constant grueling walking for me and Matt. Which was a bit of an exaggeration as we¡¯d be swapping out with Jerry and Chris eventually.


    The roads were hard and flat, the dirt below was beaten down by generations of feet and carriages passing over it, with the occasional rainfall to flatten and smooth things out. It felt good against my bare feet but would feel like sandpaper grinding against me after a few hours. A trip to the city wasn¡¯t complete without a new layer of callus and blisters on the feet.


    After the wagon hit the rare bump in the road and nearly threw Jerry off, he decided it was time to get up and walk with us, leaving an empty spot on the wagon. Matt surprisingly didn¡¯t take it and motioned towards me while pointing at my wound. Despite all his complaining, he¡¯d rather continue walking than have me while I¡¯m wounded. That action alone improved my opinion of him as I hopped onto the wagon next to Chris.


    ¡°Want me to take the reins, Chris? I¡¯m not tired and you can take this chance to nod off for a bit,¡± I said.


    ¡°No need, I actually enjoy stuff like this. I could ride a wild horse unsaddled if I so wished,¡± said Chris while tugging on the reins to get the donkey moving again. Matt and Jerry trudged along, just a hair slower than the wagon.


    ¡°That¡¯s quite the skill. Why did you become an adventurer instead of a stable hand or breeder?¡± I asked.


    ¡°That¡¯s quite simple, money. My older brother inherited the family farm which had plenty of horses and I was left with only a bit of money I stupidly wasted. To get my own plot of land and some good breeds I need cash, lots of it,¡± said Chris.


    ¡°I imagine you¡¯re not too interested in the transition from adventurer to knight order, are you? Just a means to an end,¡± I said.


    ¡°Isn¡¯t that the same for everyone here, even you? Tell you what, I¡¯ll let you know something special,¡± said Chris while looking back. Behind us was Matt and Jerry chatting and they had fallen back a bit, out of earshot. Meanwhile, Stephen was passed out in the back, making not a bit of noise.


    ¡°Jerry was actually one of the people who stole your ale, not Stephen,¡± said Chris, ratting out his friend in what might have been grand reveal.


    ¡°I know. He told me and has made up for it. I suspected as much from the beginning and still formed this knight order with him,¡± I said.


    ¡°Oh, I see. Well, if we¡¯re being honest here I¡¯ll come out as the perpetrator. I was the one who convinced everyone else to steal that ale from you, so if you hold it against anyone, hold it against me,¡± said Chris. This statement confused me. Not in the way of not understanding why he did it, but more why he told me and whether I should be happy he came out or pissed that he did that.


    ¡°That makes no difference to me as I¡¯ve already forgiven all of you. In fact, I¡¯ve actually got a new brew from the dungeon I plan on sharing when we stop for the night,¡± I said.


    ¡°That¡¯ll be nice. I suggest giving Stephen a bigger portion of the brew to help with his pain. Nothing better than getting hammered to forget about injuries, even if it might interfere with the healing a bit,¡± said Chris. The healing process might have been disturbed if he had been healing naturally, but with the divine items, it would be fine for him. Only I had to watch how much I drank tonight without the shield as a crutch.


    After a few hours, Chris stepped down from the wagon and Matt took his place while I held onto the reins. Even later on, I stepped down and Jerry hopped back in and took the reins. Apparently, Matt had no idea how to use them so Jerry helped teach him. No idea why he didn¡¯t ask me while I was there but it couldn¡¯t be helped since he was probably too tired. The only reason why I knew was because of my upbringing back in my old town.


    When night finally came, we brought the wagon off the path a bit into a little clearing in the forest and make camp. Camp wasn¡¯t anything special, just some blankets thrown on the ground and a fire to heat up the food. My sword made it easy to light the kindling and we had a raging fire in no time at all. The wagon itself was hidden behind a few trees to make us less of a target for bandits and the donkey was tied to the other side of a tree with some grain to eat.


    Our food was some hard loaves of bread and a light vegetable stew. We only had what little food Matt¡¯s family could spare so there was no meat. It was still plenty filling and everyone¡¯s mood perked up when I brought out the wine. With the merry celebrations, we had that night, everything felt more normal and let optimism back into my life. This situation with the knights could be overcome with all of us in good time at the city.


    As Chris suggested, I made sure that Stephen had the lion¡¯s share of the drink and he could barely talk by the time he passed out. Jerry and Matt had plenty to drink and passed out cold. I couldn¡¯t drink too much lest I risked a hangover and hampered my healing so I only had one mug, same as Chris. Then I tried to get some sleep. Chris said something about taking the first watch.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    In the middle of the night, I woke up from some noise. I opened my eyes a bit and saw Chris walking over to Jerry, guess he was waking him up so he¡¯d take the next watch. Which made sense as he slept a decent portion of the ride to this point. My eyes closed and I tried going back to sleep but my mind remained alert from Chris or maybe Jerry now shuffling about.


    Then there was another noise that made me sit up. Stephen was moaning and trying to say something. For some reason, the shield was lying on the ground an arm¡¯s length away from him. He must have dropped it in his sleep and the pain from not having it woke him up. As I got closer to him and pushed the shield back into his hands, he finally made out a word, not a word, a name.


    ¡°Chris,¡± he said weakly while shivering.


    Chris? What about Chris? Strangely enough, Chris wasn¡¯t at the camp nor was Jerry awake. Looking around, I still didn¡¯t see him at all. Was he keeping watch in a tree or something? Since he was missing, I decided to go over to Jerry and wake him up. Maybe he had let Jerry know that he was off doing something and Jerry went back to sleep instead of taking over the watch.


    ¡°Where¡¯s Chris?¡± I asked Jerry while shaking him awake. He stared at me in pure confusion as if I had said the strangest thing in the world. It was just as strange to me as I still wasn¡¯t fully awake myself.


    A sudden noise made me turn around. The sound of hoofbeats over where the wagon and donkey were tied up. I stopped shaking Jerry and walked over to find the wagon untouched but the donkey gone. Jerry had gotten up and followed me, touching the rope on the tree where the donkey had been kept. It hadn¡¯t been a complicated knot but was cut. Whoever had taken the donkey left in a hurry.


    ¡°Where¡¯s the bracelet of Mans Tontrau? Did I pass it over to you at some point?¡± asked Jerry while patting at his pockets. For the love of the goddess, I hoped he was messing with me or just too drunk to remember. After he had checked every nook and cranny on his person, I realized the worst had happened.


    ¡°When did you last check if you had it?¡± I asked, starting to worry that he had dropped it on the side of the road on the way here.


    ¡°Before I went to sleep I felt it in my pocket. I had to move it slightly to sleep more comfortably,¡± said Jerry. Which rather than relieving me, made things so much worse.


    If he had it when he went to sleep then that means that Chris had swiped it while he was sleeping. The bastard waited for us to fall asleep and tried robbing us. He even tried to take the divine items of Sanae Patil from Stephen while he was sleeping. Which is why he made me give him so much wine, so he wouldn¡¯t make a noise while he took them. Thankfully, that part of the plan failed and he left behind the shield in his rush to run. Stephen was warning me that Chris was the thief not that he was missing.


    ¡°I think Chris just robbed it and fled on the donkey,¡± I said to Jerry without explaining my train of thought.


    ¡°Don¡¯t be ridiculous. He would never do something like that,¡± he said while laughing. That laughter turned to crying as he leaned against a tree and sat down. Jerry knew that I was right but didn¡¯t want to believe it, not with all the other shit that had happened to us lately.


    The laughter and crying woke up Matt who came over and started asking questions about what was going on, where the donkey was, and where Chris was. Neither Jerry nor I felt like explaining so we told him to go back to sleep and then tried to do so ourselves without much luck. I slept next to Stephen, making sure Chris couldn¡¯t come back and try robbing him again easily.


    In the morning, we all woke up in a terrible mood. Stephen was hungover and still reeling from the traumatic experience of one of his friends trying to rob items that were literally his lifeline from him. Jerry was still in denial over the whole thing, mumbling to himself with bloodshot eyes. While I was just a bit tired from life. Our knight order was one man down in a way that was worse than him just dying or leaving.


    How were we supposed to react if we even met that traitor again? Would we cut him down in anger, let him say his side of the story, or forgive him? Just the thought of meeting him again got my blood boiling. For me, I would slay him on the spot. I wasn¡¯t so sure the others would do the same, besides Stephen. Unless the lost leg made him a bit more cautious about attacking people in revenge.


    Now we lacked a divine item that was supposed to be used to trade for our kind of divine item or a tidy sum of money. Not only that, we couldn¡¯t use the wagon anymore unless we dragged it along ourselves with the donkey gone. At this point, we didn¡¯t have much of a reason to go to the city besides escaping the knight order, all the excuses were gone. We were fleeing, afraid for our lives, nothing else.


    A good part of the morning was spent explaining what happened to Matt and just staring at each other, waiting for someone to take control. That was my job as the knight captain. I wanted to continue heading towards the city and abandon the wagon. However, that would force us to leave Stephen behind as well or carry him the whole way. There was no way I could bring up something like that.


    Matt ended up being the one to take control with me being silent and Jerry escaping reality. He went over and tossed four blankets and some food supplies from the wagon at Jerry and me, then picked up Stephen. The decision was made, we would carry the bare minimum of supplies and continue our trip while bringing Stephen along as far as we could. It seemed like Jerry and Matt would have to take turns carrying him. I just hoped I wouldn¡¯t have to as my wounds would reopen.


    I did end up having to carry him after Matt and Jerry tired of it halfway through the day. However, with the necklace and shield pressed against my back, I didn¡¯t feel too much pain nor did my wound reopen. Apparently, the effect could be shared through touch somehow. It was probably only because I had worn the divine items before and was a fellow believer. Nonetheless, this provided yet another advantage to knight orders who could cause artificial convergences since they could keep close and share their effects. Even now I imagine full plate men holding hands while skipping through the dungeon merrily.


    That image earned a rare laugh from myself. Since the divine items were healing me as I went along, I kept carrying Stephen the rest of the day, refusing to let the others take over when they recovered. Instead, they carried all the baggage. It felt almost unfair to them as they did most of the hard work while I got a free ride compliments of the divine items. Yet, shouldn¡¯t Jerry have felt the effects of the shield and necklace as well?


    ¡°Hey Jerry, did you notice anything special when you were carrying Stephen, like feeling their buffs affect you?¡± I asked Jerry. He was quick to pass Stephen off to me so I doubted he had.


    ¡°No. Not that I would know how it felt as I wasn¡¯t injured. Maybe it closed up some of my callus and made my blisters go away, but nothing beyond that,¡± said Jerry while Matt cut in and mentioned that he felt nothing at all, which was to be expected.


    So either he didn¡¯t notice the buff since he had been using the necklace and didn¡¯t know what the endurance from the shield was like, or it wasn¡¯t affecting him for some reason. The healing aspect certainly helped him at least. Perhaps I was just overthinking things, but I felt like I should test out some theories about the divine items later on.


    Unfortunately, by the end of the day, we were forced to camp on the side of the road again. With the wagon gone and being forced to lug Stephen around on our backs, there was no way we could¡¯ve covered enough distance. We all hoped to see the city over the next hill so we could find an inn and sleep in real beds. However, we only found more and more wilderness every time we went over the crest of a hill. It wasn¡¯t until the time we turned in did we see the first signs of the city with some plumes of smoke coming from households cooking dinner and a speck on the horizon. There were maybe two or three more hours of walking to reach there and the city only let people come in during the day so pushing on was pointless.


    We laid everything out and made camp again, eating another sparse meal from our remaining supplies. My sword once again set a small fire up and gave us some comfort for the long night ahead. I doubted that any of us could fall asleep with what happened the previous night. No one drank and one by one we fell asleep. The fatigue was too much for us to resist. I was the last to fall asleep and I didn¡¯t even try to sleep until I confirmed that Matt was fully asleep.


    He was the only one in the group who hadn¡¯t held a divine item of Sanae Patil. Chris hadn¡¯t either and he betrayed us. Matt was someone we would have to keep an eye on or force to hold one of the items before we could fully trust him. I held back on such an extreme method as the three of them weren¡¯t sure if they wanted to join the knight order but kept with us. If we had forced them earlier, chances were that they would¡¯ve left. Stephen was the only one forced to take on the items and that was due to his circumstances rather than us pushing it onto him.

 Chapter 21: Somum Nov

    Asking Matt to hold one of the items was the same as saying that we don''t trust him and suspect he''ll do the same thing as Chris did. It could easily splinter the group again and we were already hurting from Chris''s sudden departure. I decided to push those thoughts to the back of my mind for later when I was alone with Jerry and even Stephen now since he has held the divine items as well. So, I went to sleep as well, confident that Matt was sound asleep and hoping I could just make it through the night without any more bad things happening. Staying awake all night just to make sure we were safe from Matt trying anything or Chris coming back was tempting.


    In the morning, nothing had changed. All of our belongings and gear, as sparse as they were now, were in order and Stephen still held the necklace and shield. We had nothing to eat for breakfast so we cleaned up the campsite, packed our things, and set off towards the city. The only thing I had to fill my stomach and stave off my hunger was a bit of wine that I shared with the others. Of course, I offered to carry Stephen before anyone else. Neither of them were going to take away my chance to leech off the shield''s endurance effect.


    Within an hour of walking, the dirt path below us was replaced by stone, cracked and a bit uneven in some spots, but would hold up better during the rain season. The favored road for anyone using a wagon or carriage of some sort. As we got closer to the city, the road became wider and more well maintained. The stones became larger in size and less spaced out and at some point, the cracks and gaps between them were filled in and smoothed over. On the side of the roads were some campsites with various people from well-armed adventurers and merchants to skinny and malnourished peasants, sleeping in tents, blankets, and on the ground. They could not afford to rent anywhere in the city yet had business there so they were forced to find someplace to sleep for the night.


    I hoped that we had enough money to rent an inn here if only for a few days. Sleeping outside in a city would not only be humiliating but also dangerous with Matt becoming the least of my worries when it came to people stealing from us. Further down the street, close to the entrance of the city, some makeshift buildings and tents sprouted up. They were mostly shops selling stuff just outside the city. It was far less lucrative to sell here and the items being sold were shoddy, but it wasn''t as expensive as renting or buying a spot inside the city and plenty of people still passed by. To make up for the low sales, whenever someone walked by them they would shout and wave around items they thought the person would buy. We walked by half a dozen shopkeeps waving around hooks and prosthetic legs with Stephen on my back. It wasn''t until one of them pulled out a pair of crutches that I stopped everyone and took a closer look.


    Crutches wouldn''t allow Stephen to walk long distances or keep up with us, but it would grant him some mobility for basic everyday things. Stephen expressed his interest as well and it was no wonder with the awkwardness of Jerry having to walk him away from the camp for a few minutes this morning. Jerry walked over and talked prices and finally settled on a good price halfway between being a good deal and a total ripoff. That would be the case if it was a new set of crutches while these were probably well worn, possibly broken, and probably stolen. None of that mattered as it didn''t break immediately and Stephen liked them when I let him down to try them out.


    That was some of our expenses gone. However, it didn''t matter as everything was more expensive in the city so we''d be broke by the end of the day anyway. Unless we were careful about our expenses. Which were somehow all cash, not ores. Jerry had been trading a decent amount of the ores we stored away for coin with Jeff, probably not at the best rate. Nonetheless, a few silver coins were easier to carry than a hunk of metal ore. I was pretty sure we had some metal ore left at the headquarters that hadn''t been traded before it was burned down. It made me wonder if the knights had taken it before burning things down or if we could find it buried under the rubble in that chest later on.


    As we reached the wooden gates that marked the beginning of the actual city, we got into a queue of people leading up to a group of heavily armed guards inspecting everything and everyone before they were let in. On top of the wooden walls, there were even archers ready to start firing upon the crowd at a single sign of something off. They were necessary measures for a city so close to the border.


    Every person took about five minutes for them to be interrogated on their reason for coming to the city and for their belongings to be searched. Which didn''t seem long until it started to add up with all of the people ahead of us. Even when it was our turn, with four of us it would take twenty minutes total for us to go through. The queue ahead of us had a little over twenty people so it took almost two hours until we reached the gate. While we patiently waited in the queue, several groups of adventurers, merchants, and even knights passed through without interacting with the guards or waiting. They were people who either had trustworthy identities or had used the gate so many times that the guards just let them pass through unabated.


    We had Jerry go first because he was carrying all of our cash and the guards would be more likely to try and confiscate coin from a lone traveler than a group. All four of us stood close together so they would know we were together and I made sure that Stephen kept the divine items on him visible. Hopefully, the fact that we had divine items on us would grant us some form of special privilege similar to a knight order. The guards did react to this by staring at him, but not for long. The fact the divine items were on someone missing a leg probably lessened their impact. Or perhaps they didn''t care since we didn''t look like knights, lacking heavy armor and carrying rough weapons. I had a pretty decent looking sword even when sheathed but I was wearing bloody rags pretty much while the others wore better clothes but had worn down and cracked weapons.


    "What is your purpose coming to the city of Somum Nov and where are you from?" asked the guard in a monotone voice. He probably said the same words hundreds of times per day and lacked any sort of enthusiasm whatsoever.


    "The four of us are from the town of Coip two days South of here. We''re here to act as adventurers because we cannot do so there anymore. I''d like to report that a knight order under the name Mans Tontrau is terrorizing the town, committing arson and vandalism," said Jerry, explaining the situation and even throwing in the part about the knights.


    That was a good idea. Why hadn''t I thought of it? Just have the local authorities go and take care of things. We''d be able to return back to town, whose name was Coip apparently, in no time at all it seemed. We wouldn''t even have to fight the knight order. While by their own code, it was alright to do anything other than kill other than in war and self-defense, there are laws to the land and arson is surely breaking a few of those laws.


    "Not my job, talk to the garrison by the castle to report matters like that. Between you and me, they probably won''t do anything unless someone was killed since we''re so close to the border. Armies making movements around the border bring up questions and questions bring conflict. At least your reasoning for coming here matches your appearance so we can search you, charge you the entrance tax, and be done here," said the guard, crushing my hope.


    Everything he said annoyed me from the fact that he couldn''t do anything about our report, to the fact that the people we could report to would ignore us, to being taxed just for entering the city. Then again, I wasn''t used to being taxed directly, my whole life I grew up in a small village and then a town. Even then, the town didn''t have a lord and there was only the royal duty and a portion of the crop going towards the city. Which came back to bite us in the ass because if we had a lord there would also be soldiers around that could''ve stopped the knights.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    We ended up being patted down and talked to individually by the guard one by one. The guards paused when they found Jerry''s wallet but made no motion towards embezzling our funds thankfully. There were only two minor incidents at the gate before we were pushed through. First, was Stephen almost falling over and crying out in shock as the guards grabbed his crutches and looked at them closely. Second, was when one of the guards made me draw my sword and it exploded in flames. I would have avoided this attention if I could, but the guard had been searching around my shirt and I didn''t want the dagger to be found nor the wine for that matter and decided to show off a bit.


    The dagger was dark elemented and the skull on it would make it very suspicious. If it had been found, there was a chance I could be painted as an assassin. Meanwhile, the wine could be confiscated under the guise of smuggling or they could insist on grabbing a few drinks from it. Neither were things I could allow as I valued my life and the wine was almost empty already.


    Once we were in the city, we found ourselves in a small clearing before crowded streets and a sea of people. It seemed impossible at first glance to figure out where places were and how to push through the crowd to get to them. We collected ourselves together and talked about what to do next.


    "We''re in the city, what now?" I asked, starting the conversation.


    "I''d like to go find this garrison and report the knight order in our town. Maybe they''ll send a smaller group of soldiers if they hear that it''s only nine knights causing the commotion. Anything is better than nothing in our current situation," said Jerry.


    "Well, my leg still hasn''t regrown so I''d like someplace where I could sit down and be still for a bit rather than being dragged around constantly. So I''d like us to find an inn before we do anything else and check prices so we can figure out how long we can stay," said Stephen.


    "I''m hungry and tired so I''d like to find an inn as well. At some point, I''d like to find a weapons merchant or a blacksmith as my hatchet still needs to be replaced," said Matt. Right, Jerry and I were going to get a hatchet for Matt but Jeff''s place was trashed when we got there and it slipped our minds completely.


    "My thoughts on what''s the most important is to find the dungeon so we can get a source of income here before we go broke," I said my piece. Not that I wasn''t hungry, tired, or wanting to report the knight order to the authorities. It was simply the highest priority to me to make sure that we didn''t go broke here.


    "Well we either split up and try to do all of this at once or we go one by one to each of the places in order of importance," said Jerry.


    "Where would we meet up if we split up?" said Matt. And I had the perfect answer to that.


    "Let''s all meet at the dungeon. I can go with Jerry to inform the garrison and then go to the dungeon while finding something to eat on the way. Matt and Stephen will find an inn and hold a room, then Matt can go on his own to pick up a weapon and come to the dungeon, letting Jerry and me know where we''ll be staying," I outlined out for everyone. It was the perfect plan if I did say so myself.


    "Alright, but if we do that I''ll need some money to buy the hatchet and hold the room if not outright rent it. Not sure if inns in the city would accept holding onto the room until you guys came back in to pay the full amount," said Matt while holding his hand out to Jerry.


    Jerry looked at me for a second to gauge my reaction. He was wondering if he really should give the money to Matt. After all, he could easily accept the money and then run off. A part of me wanted to believe that wouldn''t happen and we could trust him. Besides, this was the result of my own plan so I finally nodded and Jerry passed over enough coins to buy a weapon, food, and a room plus extra to account for price differences. Then Matt left with Stephen awkwardly following behind using his crutches. Hopefully, this would work out.


    Our destination was a bit more clear than Matt and Stephen''s. The garrison was next to the castle and that was easily visible from anywhere in the city. It had proper stone walls surrounding it and it sat upon a hill overlooking the city. There was a building halfway down that hill which had guards coming in and out of almost constantly, which we assumed to be the place we were looking for. We set off into the crowd straight towards it. We ended up pushing into the crowd and being pushed in the direction most of the crowd was going towards, like a stream of bodies flowing downhill. It was a fight just to keep together, not even to mention making sure we were going in the right direction.


    Many times we found ourselves managing to be freed from the crowd just to find out that we were facing the wrong way and hadn''t made much progress towards our destination. As we got closer to the castle, the crowds started to clear up and it became easier to navigate the streets much to our relief. Eventually, the only people walking around us were guards, women, and children. The women and children were treated with respect or affection by the guards as they were most likely the family members of one them. An entire block or district of the city was dedicated towards the guards and their families close to the castle.


    Once we got past that part of the city, we were able to climb up to the garrison. The guards around this area were vigilant towards us as not many people came this way and when they did it usually meant trouble. At least, they didn''t bar our way or make us go back. Without any trouble, we reached the entrance of the building but were stopped at the door by one of the guards.


    ''


    "What brings you to the garrison adventurers?" asked the guard while standing in the doorway of the building, keeping us from going in.


    "We''re here to make a report about an incident," said Jerry.


    "Which part of the city and what''s going on?" asked the guard. A few other nearby guards gathered around us to pay attention to what was going on. Likely they were getting ready to rush over to the place we mentioned on a moment''s notice if it was in the city.


    "It''s not actually in the city, but a nearby town," said Jerry and as soon as he said that, all the guards that had been gathering around cleared up. Now that it wasn''t an incident related to the city, they weren''t so eager to help resolve it.


    "And why can''t the garrison of your town handle it?" asked the guard. If only we had a garrison.


    "There is no garrison as we have no lord and a militia wouldn''t be enough to solve things. We need soldiers to help with this, as many as can be spared for such an incident," said Jerry.


    "If there is no lord, how can it be called a town? Is it not just a village? What could possibly be happening that requires us guards to go over and fix things?" asked the guard. I was wondering the same thing with the town and village thing.


    "There is a temple to the gods, a much larger population than a village, and there was a blacksmith shop but it just closed due to this incident. As for what''s going on, there is a group of nine heavily armed knights terrorizing the town under the name of Mans Tontrau, damaging property and committing arson," said Jerry.


    "That sounds terrible. We should be able to spare some troops in your village''s time of need. However, we''ll need your name and a statement before we can move out. Where is the village and its name?" said the guard. I was happy that he was so willing to help. A stark difference to the guard at the gate.


    "Its name is Coip and it''s two days to the South, by the border. And it''s a town officially not a village," said Jerry, annoyed by the guard''s refusal to call it a town.


    "By the border? Well, that complicates things. We can''t really send troops, not enough to actually fight the knights if need be. We''d only be able to send a few and as messengers to tell the knight order to stop and move on. And even then, the knights could just come back after our messengers left. So, it''s the same as doing nothing at all. Any other time we could help, but tensions are high and it seems like war could break out anytime and we''d like to avoid being the cause," said the knight.


    Our trip to the garrison had been in vain. The guard at the entrance had warned us and we thought it might go differently from what he said, but that didn''t happen. Even worse was the fact that war could break out. If that happened, this city would be in danger while Coip would be wiped off the map.


    "No thanks, we''ll try to figure something else out. Would you point us towards the nearest dungeon? We''ll be staying in the city for a while and need a way to pay our expenses," I asked while dismissing the option of sending messengers.


    "Sure, there are three dungeon entrances but two of them are private and can''t be used without paying a fee. The public one is over by the market, in the middle of the city. Look for a place with lots of flags. You can''t miss it though getting lost on the way a few times is a given," said the guard while seeing us off.

 Chapter 22: Another Entrance, Same Dungeon

    The fact that there were private dungeons that we couldn''t access confused me. However, it wasn''t important as there was a dungeon we could go into. It made sense in a way that some large group of adventurers or knights that were rich could buy all the property around a dungeon and monopolize it if there were other entrances close by. I couldn''t imagine the local government standing idle if all the entrances were occupied by various factions and kept others out.


    We dived back into the maze of people in this chaotic city and after being sidetracked a few times we ended up somewhere around the center of the city. There, we found a food market selling exotic ingredients along with some food stands selling hot food probably made from the ingredients being sold everywhere there. There were stews filled with a variety of ingredients and also meat being grilled up.


    I ended up grabbing a couple bowls of the stew for myself and Jerry since it was fairly cheap but the grilled meat was very pricey. The price of a few strips of meat was the same as an entire chicken back in the town of Coip. Thankfully, the stew was filling and had plenty of fruits, grain, and veggies in it. Some of the chunks of vegetables and fruit were bad and I ended up spitting out some pieces onto the ground. After all, the reason why it was so cheap was because it was made from ingredients that didn''t sell and were either about to go bad or already bad. I was already starting to miss Tom''s bar.


    As we wandered the markets, we started to find flags being hung over some of the stands and rather than food, they were selling weapons and metal ores. The weapons, whether an ax or a spear, were made completely out of metal, no wooden handle. That was a waste of metal but might be useful in a dungeon run as a metal handle could be used to block attacks without too much damage and the weapon would be less likely to break from a big impact.


    Still, it was a bit unnerving to see them being sold in pretty much every stand with a flag over it, especially with their price tag. They were even cheaper than a farming utensil at Jeff''s place, not even talking about his weapons. Something was off with this situation. Either metal was so plentiful that weapons were mass produced and drove prices down or there was something fundamentally wrong with the weapons. The ores as well were sold in piles of three through five for a silver each, while iron back in town was worth somewhere between one and two silvers each.


    "Do you know what''s up with these weapons and ores?" I asked Jerry, hoping he knew more about the topic than me.


    "No, but I''d like to avoid having to use these weapons if they''re this cheap and plentiful. Seems like they would break in half at the first sign of trouble. Then again, if they''re legit it would make our stay in the city a lot easier. At these prices, I''m tempted to buy one just to try it out in the dungeon," said Jerry.


    I agreed with his sentiment and stopped by one of the shops selling stuff for cheap and picked up a metal staff almost as tall as me. It was surprisingly light yet it wasn''t hollow. I tapped against my fingernail and didn''t hear any noise beyond the usual metallic tap. Jerry paid the man sitting at the stand a single silver and picked up a small ax. That silver accounted for both of our weapons amazingly enough. There was a bit of laughter from our surroundings during the sale.


    That laughter alone confirmed our suspicions about these weapons. I looked around and saw some adventurers walking down the street and none of them had these sorts of weapons, having the usual wooden handles on spears and axes, or if they were metal, it was a lighter grey color and shiny, likely being of steel or silver make. Very luxurious and expensive weapons that were never up for sale in Jeff''s shop. Steel weapons were more durable and stronger than iron but apparently require more cleaning to prevent rust. Meanwhile, a silver coating over a weapon, iron or steel will keep the weapon from rusting and rumors say that it makes it more effective against some monsters.


    If not for the fact I had two enchanted weapons, I might have been jealous, or not. I still wanted a steel or silver spear and maybe a club or ax. My enchanted weapons seemed to be quite situational in their use so some high-quality weapons other than them would be nice. This staff wasn''t too bad either with how light it was, even if it was low quality or faulty in some way. Adventuring as a profession would be a lot easier if all weapons were as light as this yet were still able to dish out some damage. As long as it didn''t break in the process, light weapons like this should be able to hurt or kill monsters as long as I swing them hard enough.


    Further into this area filled with flags, more and more shops cropped up along with the occasional blacksmith making weapons in front of everyone. The constant yelling of the shopkeepers mixed in with the noise of the crowd and blacksmiths hammering was deafening. Eventually, we found a building taking a central position in all the noise covered in flags. Upon closer inspection, the flags had symbols on them and probably represented divines so the flags belonged to knight orders. Not only knights entered this building, but ordinary adventurers like us also came and went as well. There was a constant stream of people going in and out, more than the building could feasibly fit. Which meant the dungeon was likely inside. Before we could enter, we had to look around to see if we could find Matt.


    By the side of the entrance, I found Matt surrounded by a group of adventurers talking to him. He looked a bit uncomfortable from the attention so Jerry and I rushed over. The reason why he was surrounded was due to the shield in his hands that the adventurers were trying to buy off him. It was my shield that I had left with Stephen so he could use it to heal. Why did he bring it here instead of leaving it with Stephen at the place we''d be staying at for the night? As soon as I came close, Matt rushed over to me and pushed the shield into my hands and I slipped it onto my left arm where I usually kept it.


    "Doesn''t Stephen need this?" I asked.


    "Stephen said that it''s more important for you to use it if you''re going into the dungeon and that he''d just have to endure a bit of pain from its absence. He said to just give it back to him later tonight," said Matt.


    "Hey what''s going on? I, Bismuth, was negotiating over the sale of that item to me. It''s rude to take things that are about to belong to me," said one of the men that had been harassing Matt. He seemed to be the leader of the others as they stood behind him and kept silent as he talked.


    "It''s not for sale and the item is mine, not Matt''s so you couldn''t have negotiated a sale with him anyway. That looked more like coercion than a negotiation," I said.


    "Whatever you say. The great Bismuth has lost interest in buying it at your loss. It''s got a shit enchantment on it so not like it could turn much of a profit," said Bismuth while walking away. That pissed me off more than it would have if he had continued to insist on buying the shield. He could have just apologized for his mistake instead of making a show of it, narcissistic bastard.


    "How does he know the enchantment on the shield?" asked Jerry. I hadn''t even noticed until Jerry had mentioned it, but he somehow knew what enchantment was on the shield. That or he was just calling it a shit enchantment because he couldn''t have it.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "That''s my fault. They approached me while I was waiting for you guys and started asking about the shield while being really friendly. It wasn''t until they insisted on buying it and I refused did they start ganging up on me like that," said Matt. He really should be more careful about random groups of people walking up to him out of nowhere, no matter how friendly.


    "Whatever, the situation is done and over. Hopefully, we''ll never bump into them again and this will amount to nothing. I''d rather not have an adventuring group with a grudge against us floating around," I said while thinking of the possibility of facing a situation similar to back in Coip with a knight order or adventurers.


    "Oh right, I managed to get a hatchet for a ridiculously cheap price. Left me and Stephen with plenty of cash for the room. Unfortunately, those were super expensive, especially ones with multiple beds. The best we could do was grab a cramped room with one large bed for a single night. It''s either that or sleeping outside the city. I see that you guys managed to get some weapons at a good price as well," he said while gesturing towards my staff and Jerry''s spare ax.


    "We''re pretty sure there''s something wrong with these weapons and that''s why they''re cheap so we''re going to test them out then fall back to our usual weapons if they''re shit. Where''s your old hatchet? Even with it''s crack, it''ll be handy if your current one breaks in one hit," said Jerry.


    "Uhh, I may have sold my old hatchet to help pay for the room rent," said Matt while looking at his new hatchet nervously.


    "You still have your spear so you''ll have to make do for now. I already gave you a quarter of our budget so we''re looking at four nights or less at an inn, with that difference between three and four nights probably going to be made from having to buy you a new, proper hatchet if that one doesn''t work out for you," said Jerry while holding up four fingers and curling one to make his point extra clear.


    "I''m sorry, vice captain. I wasn''t thinking things through. I''ll do my best to earn enough money to stay longer and possibly even upgrade to a better room or have multiple rented at once," said Matt, which also happened to be my plan. I didn''t want to sleep on a bed with three other guys and I was already planning on sleeping on the floor.


    With that out of the way, Jerry explained our end of things to Matt with the garrison and how they wouldn''t be helping us and why. Meanwhile, we took our place in the back of the line leading into the building holding the dungeon. The line moved fairly fast with only five to ten-second pauses before the line moved up. Within five minutes we were already at the front of the line and entered the building. There wasn''t much in the way of decor or anything inside other than a hill and a hole on the side of the hill bearing the entrance to the dungeon. Right as we entered the building, a man exited the dungeon covered in blood. He left the building before I could decipher if it was his or from the monsters.


    There were two guards lining on both sides of the entrance wielding spears that they lowered and crossed over, blocking the entrance while a third guard walked up to us with his hands outstretched. Another fee was asked of us as if paying the enter the city wasn''t bad enough. No wonder there were private dungeon entrances, knight orders and adventurers wanted to avoid paying a fee every time they had to go into the dungeon. What made things worse is that it was an entire silver coin per person. And based on the prices I saw on the ores outside, that meant we''d likely have to wheat grind or fish for hours and hours to make the dungeon trip worthwhile.


    We paid the fees for all three of us even though it was probably a bad idea to come here and entered the dungeon one by one. Hopefully, the fact that there were so many adventurers and knight orders running about meant that entering the dungeon was worthwhile even with the fee.


    In the first room of the dungeon, I felt a sense of familiarity. After a few days of traveling, this was the first time I felt welcomed and at home. As welcoming and homely as black walls and a walking skeleton could be. Despite how dark the walls were, the room was well lit and I hoped it would stay that way. As for the monster, it kept its distance from me, hugging the back perimeter of the room. This was odd as usually, monsters would either move to attack me or stay still until I made some sort of move. As I walked closer to it with the staff in hand, moved from one side to the other, trying to find a way to get around me. Perhaps it wanted to ambush me but the room was too small for it to get around me.


    As soon as I got close enough, I lunged with the staff in hand to bash the skeleton over its head, or skull. It hit spot on with a resounding crack. Not from the skeleton''s skull but from my staff as it got deformed where it hit the monster along with snaking cracks spreading around the area. Just as I thought, this weapon was shoddy and of no real use in combat and dropped it. Since I had my doubts on whether my spear would work with the monster being all bones and no nice soft flesh to poke, I unsheathed my sword and slashed downward with a wisp of flames leaving a streak in the air. Not only did my sword split its skull open, but it also caught the entire monster on fire and it collapsed into a pile of broken bones and ashes. This piled swirled and recombined itself into a blackish ore.


    When I sheathed my sword, I noticed that my hands were blackened as if I hadn''t washed them in weeks or handled coal. The same color as the staff I had been using and this ore that dropped. It all fell into place now. This ore, whatever it was, was incredibly common because it dropped so often and as a result, it was super cheap and used to make really shoddy weapons. It was also a really dirty metal for some reason. Curious about what it really looked like, I picked up the ore and wiped it on my shirt until its sheen shone through. It was actually quite beautiful and was as shiny as silver but with a darker grey color. It wasn''t a metal I knew the name of, but without the black dust all over it, it looked valuable while it was actually close to worthless with its overabundance.


    After throwing the ore into my shirt and picking up and tying the staff beside my spear on my back, I went to the next room. There I found another cowardly skeleton looking to ambush me. As I reached to unsheathe my sword, I noticed something strange with my shield. Normally, it would occasionally light up with a sharp glint to reveal its status to the world as a divine item, but now it was flashing on and off constantly. Coupled with the flashes was the skeletons reaction. Every time the shield flashed, its head jerked back a bit and it tried backing off more. Could it be that the skeleton wasn''t acting this way to try and ambush me but because it was scared of my shield?


    Remembering how the shield affected the dark elemented snake, I decided to test out the same thing with this skeleton by trapping it in one part of the room then touching it with the shield. There was a possibility that I didn''t even need to fight in this dungeon, just shield bash everything to death. While I thought bash, it was really more of a careful press. All it took was moving my shield back and forth to keep the skeleton from slipping away to the sides while confirming it really was afraid of my shield. In that dominant position, I shoved the shield into its face and it lifted up its hands to grab onto the sides of the shield. Its finger bones gave off smoke as it did this, but it prevented me from pushing the shield any farther until I put more strength into it.


    Creaks rang out in the room as the skeleton''s arms were pushed back and the shield pressed against its ribs, letting out a large plume of blackish smoke. Seconds later, the skeleton fell apart, becoming scattered pieces of bones while its ribs and forearms collapsed into smoke and dust onto the ground. My shield turned the dead and could even purge them while my fire sword could split their skulls and burn away their bodies. This was the perfect dungeon for my current equipment if there ever was one, that is if things didn''t get harder and the environment didn''t change in a way that inconvenienced me.


    It took more effort to pin them down with my shield than it took to cut them down with my sword. Room three was ended with one slash and one less skeleton in the dungeon. And like the first room, a blackish ore dropped that I cleaned up somewhat by wiping on my shirt then throwing it in with the other one. To break even, I needed at least three more like that, preferably more since merchants sold at higher prices than they bought things for. Even then, it seemed like most knights set up a shop under their name to sell through directly rather than selling wholesale to some random merchant in the city.

 Chapter 23: Second Convergence

    As per the usual, I cleared the rest of the rooms up until seven without anything else happening. An increased number of enemies did nothing as they were too scared of my shield to do anything. The tenth room had the curious change of one of the skeletons wielding a sword, but otherwise the same. The only real downside this sword brought with it is that it disappeared on the skeleton¡¯s death.


    It was made of proper iron and could be resold or smelted down to make something new with ease. Instead, the dungeon greedily ate it up as soon as it touched the ground. Trying to catch it mid-air would only cause it to crumble away into dust. I tried to get my hands on one of these swords in vain all the way up to room fifteen, where one of the skeletons fought back.


    Like the time back in the dungeon with the floating ice shards, there were ten enemies scattered throughout a large room with plenty of space for the skeletons to run around in. Rather than being able to corner them in one area of the room and take them out one by one, they could skirt around walls and run around me as I tried to herd them into one spot.


    As soon as I got tired of chasing them and took a break by one of the walls, one of the skeletons with a sword jumped around the corner and sneak attacked me from behind. I heard it coming from behind me as the skeletons made a lot of noise when they moved as their bones bumped and clacked together but I didn''t have enough time to dodge. All I was able to do was move my shield behind me at an awkward angle. The impact dislodged my shoulder and the pain was excruciating. As for the skeleton, its sword burned on contact with my shield as if it was a part of the skeleton and then its entire arm fell off as it ran off elsewhere.


    In our trading of blows, we ended up with similar injuries. However, I was worse off as I had to deal with nine more skeletons than finish off the one that had just attacked me with at least four more of them bearing weapons. To deal with my dislocated arm, I slid my shield onto my right arm and moved towards the edge of the room to prevent any more sneak attacks and so I would be ready to fight back if they tried attacking me directly. Then I grabbed my arm, gritted my teeth, and pushed hard, trying to push it back into place.


    Thirty steps from where I sat down, most of the skeletons gathered and stared at me. They were gauging their odds of being able to take me down in my weakened state. After four or five tries, I managed to force my arm back into position. I still couldn''t use my arm as it hung loosely at my side, hurting every time I did so much as move a finger. In my attempts to push it back into place, I must have torn the muscles or what not. That was fine as it would heal with time and it was better than letting it heal before I could push it back into place or I might have had to cut into my arm to set it properly.


    With my arm back in place, I stood back up, ready to face the skeletons who quickly scrambled away from me. Not only was this annoying, but it was potentially deadly to me as if they managed to delay for long enough, more skeletons would start to spawn until there would be too many to handle. They would literally swarm me with no regard for their lives, or lack thereof.


    In such a situation, there was nothing I could but try to hit them at a distance. As I lacked any sort of weapon that could attack from a range like a bow, I would have to throw some of my weapons. Out of all my weapons, the only ones that could really do anything is my shield and the dagger. The staff and spear wouldn''t do anything other than maybe tripping up their legs. My fire sword would become a normal sword when out of my hands and it was possibly very fragile on its backside so throwing it wasn''t an option.


    The dagger could instantly kill enemies with even the tiniest cut so I chose to use it. That and I had wanted to avoid throwing my shield and possibly losing the effect of the skeletons being scared of me. Which was also a solid option, setting aside the shield and cutting down the skeletons with the fire sword once they stop being terrified of me. It was also a fairly dangerous option as they could easily gang up on me.


    I got close to cornering one of the skeletons holding a sword and threw the dagger at them. It then hit the wall next to the skeleton and fell uselessly to the ground. Throwing a small sword accurately was harder than he thought. Not that he was trying to hit it in the vitals or anything, just hit it in general but his throw went wide, going too far to the right. The dagger was undamaged from hitting the pitch black wall so he scooped it up and tried throwing it again on another skeleton nearby.


    This time it hit the skeleton in the hip, with the handle instead of the actual blade. So the skeleton was still not defeated but the handle hitting its hip destroyed its balance and caused it to fall to the ground. Before it managed to get back on its feet, I pressed the shield down on it and finished it off, leaving eight more skeletons in good condition and one disarmed one.


    On his third try, he finally managed to throw the dagger and watched as the blade collided with another skeleton''s head then bounce off. The impact knocked the skeleton onto the ground, but it started to get up. Which meant that the skeleton was somehow immune to the effects of the dagger. Possibly the fact that it was undead and dark elemented had something to do with it. Or maybe the fact that it didn''t have any flesh to cut into and the bones were like armor rather than a part of the body. Then again, the shield''s power even worked on the sword.


    I made sure to finish off the enemy since it had fallen to the ground. However, I didn''t feel like throwing the dagger around anymore since it couldn''t instakill enemies. At this point, even throwing the ores in my shirt would do as the skeletons seemed awfully prone to falling down after being struck by thrown objects. Why throw a weapon when I had hunks of metal ore?


    There were some doubts in my mind about the effectiveness of this plan since the metal ores were very light and fragile. Those doubts amounted to nothing as I threw one into a skeleton''s rib cage and knocked it off its feet. With this new throwing technique, I managed to kill off every last one of the skeletons one by one. Once they were all dead or more dead, two more ores appeared where I had killed some of the skeletons.


    Once I put them in my shirt, I immediately became uncomfortable. This was the first time I had so many things in my shirt at once. The ores and wine constantly moved around and poked my stomach as they shifted around. It made moving around nearly impossible with heavy discomfort. In the past, I remembered thinking that I should get some pockets or new clothes and I was regretting the fact I hadn''t so much at that moment.


    Taking a risk, I pulled out all the ores except one and set them on the ground. There was a good chance that the dungeon would reabsorb them, but that couldn''t be helped. If that was the case, then I would just wheat grind by the entrance to make up for the lost ores on my way back. Wait no, that would be fishing even if I did it on the first room right before the exit since I''ve gotten way farther than two rooms deeper.


    On the way back, if they were still here, then I''d bring them along with me even if I had to carry them all in my arms. I''d even ditch the staff and tie some of them around my waist with the spear if I had to. The only thing I wouldn''t do is throw out the wine to hold them. Even if the ores weren''t so worthless and were of equal value or greater value to the wine, the wine would take priority. I pulled out the wine and took a good long sip of it before putting it back into my shirt.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Not counting the dungeon convergence, this was my first time reaching the sixteenth room. Last time it was empty since my fellow adventurer or knight had already cleared it and moved on without waiting for me to come along. It was more or less the same as room fifteen except with more enemies. Even with twenty skeletons running about they still fled from me. At some point, I expected them to overcome their fear through sheer numbers.


    Even though I was fully aware that at some point this would change, I couldn¡¯t help myself from going on. It was the same every other time I realized that there might be danger up ahead that could kill me. There were possible rewards for going further from new items to alcohol and food. It felt similar to gambling the way the dungeon was set up and it was addicting to just go as far as I could go in a situation like this where it was currently easy and not very dangerous due to the shield¡¯s intervention.


    One by one, I took them all out using the remaining ore I kept on hand. When I finished, three more ores sprouted from the ground and I simply piled them up by the portal leading back towards the surface and moved onto the seventeenth floor. There, I found myself in the rest area. I wasn¡¯t sure if I should have been relieved or disappointed. A dangerous part of me wished there were thirty skeletons to fight.


    As for the food and drinks, they were unusually large portions. The food was sitting in a bucket and was enough to feed me for a full day or two while there was a small barrel for the drink. A barrel not a keg, as in this booze was almost as big as me. Thankfully, it was a smaller barrel, somewhere between the size of a wine barrel used for fermenting and holding water on ships and kegs used to carry alcohol in a way where it could be opened and poured by one man alone. If I wanted to pour this barrel into a mug for a drink, it¡¯d spill everywhere. I had half a mind to dump the food onto the floor and use the barrel for drinking. The only reason I didn¡¯t is because I was also hungry and still had the wine to sate my thirst for alcohol.


    Unlike the ores, this big barrel wasn¡¯t something I could leave behind and risk losing. I popped its top for a second to smell what was inside and it was beer, a full barrel of beer was enough for days of celebration and merriment. To go on, I decided that I would move the barrel through the portal, then clear out the enemies while leaving it by the entrance. Truthfully, I could have done the same with the ores, but I was worried about being ambushed as soon as I went through like what happened last time I got this far in the dungeon.


    As soon I walked through the entrance to the eighteenth room, I realized that I could have just gone back to the surface at this point. I had gotten enough ores to make up for the entrance fee and the bonus of a full barrel of beer to keep me company for the next few days. However, the skeletons were still scared of me even with forty of them so it made sense to at least clear out the room first. A few extra ores wouldn¡¯t hurt or at least be bearable as they chafed me a bit on the way out.


    After killing the last skeleton, the sword that it had been carrying didn¡¯t disappear upon its death nor did it collapse into dust. I picked it up and turned it over a few times in disbelief, feeling its weight and checking its condition. A genuine iron sword in fairly good condition, no rust and a few chinks here and there, was in my hands. It didn¡¯t have any sort of element attached to it nor was the skeleton I killed anything special. So loot wasn¡¯t constrained to just ores when it came to normal monsters, but other things as well.


    The sword was tied to my back with the spear and staff, then I pushed the barrel of beer onto its side and rolled it towards the entrance to the next room. Who needed these worthless ores when I could get the swords the skeletons were carrying? As appealing as the idea of leaving then and there with all my gains, the sword had hyped me about even better rewards further inside.


    In the next room, I found a man wearing a metal chest plate and gauntlet with a spear in his hands, but the rest of his body was only covered in normal clothes. His outfit was very mismatched and I couldn¡¯t really criticize him for that as I was wearing essentially rags while carrying around a bunch of weapons and a barrel of beer. Over to my left, there was an active entrance leading to somewhere else, a convergence.


    He had noticed my entrance leading to this room and decided to wait for me, not even killing the skeletons in the area, who kept their distance from the two of us. Well, not killing all of them, he had obviously killed a decent amount as there only seemed to be around twenty of them left. Unless the others were hidden deeper in the room. With the convergence, the room had doubled in size compared to the previous room and was a complete maze. Upon noticing my shield, the skeletons stepped even further away or outright ran deeper into the room away from us.


    The man started talking but I couldn¡¯t understand anything he said, but he didn¡¯t seem hostile and was relaxed in my presence. Hopefully, that meant that he wanted to work together or he wanted to negotiate terms for one of us leaving. Both options were better than fighting. Once he noticed that I wasn¡¯t responding to him, he started talking a different. I could tell it was a different language as the first time he spoke it was very guttural and deep, speaking from the throat and now he was talking with his nose, nasally and still fairly deep but not in such a strong way. Languages were hard to describe and all that didn¡¯t matter as on the man¡¯s third try, he started talking in my mother tongue.


    ¡°Can you understand me now?¡± asked the man.


    ¡°Yes, I can. I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re from somewhere far away from me,¡± I said. Based on the fact that he knew three or more languages, including mine, he must travel around a lot.


    ¡°My name is Vincent and I serve the divine, Itatem Duiturn, he who lords over healing and strength, bringing those that follow him power rivaling immortality,¡± said the man named Vincent, revealing far more than I would during his introduction.


    ¡°Is it alright to reveal all that,¡± I asked him.


    ¡°Seeing how the undead also react to you, do you not carry a divine item with healing attached? That makes our divines related, allied, or rivals. A combination of those most likely. Let¡¯s assume that we¡¯re allied and treat each other well as this dungeon is far too suited for our powers to pass up. Together we shall form a shield wall against these fell beings. Well, at least you will as only my gauntlet here contains healing powers,¡± said Vincent, revealing why the skeletons were so afraid of me and figuring out what one of the two powers of my divine were.


    ¡°It¡¯s true that my goddess, Sanae Patil, uses healing and endurance on top of that. I¡¯m not too well versed with matters regarding divines but I¡¯ll take up your offer of working together for now,¡± I said.


    ¡°Say no more, let us bond through war. We shall slaughter these hapless skeletons and split whatever harvests they wrought for us. By ourselves, they run too fast for us to catch up, forcing us to trip them up by spear or throwing before we can vanquish them. Together, we shall push them towards each other, circling like a pack of wolves and picking them off like the sheep they are,¡± said Vincent. His plans were reasonable if not stated a bit oddly. I passed it off as it simply not being his first language rather than him being strange.


    His plan worked quite well as the tight corners of the maze while allowing the skeletons to easily ambush us if they so wished, also allowed us to scare the skeletons in the direction of the other. Of course, they would then react to the other and try to run another way, but by then they would be surrounded by the two of us and killed. The way Vincent killed them was quite brutal as he would grab them by the neckbone, lift them up, and choke them as the gauntlet burned them to death. It seemed to be a bit unnecessary and excessive but he seemed to enjoy doing it and it worked so who was I to criticize.


    We cleared out the nineteenth floor with our teamwork and gathered up the ores that had dropped, four of them total. Three of them were the ores I had been gathering, the light blackish metal that shined like silver when cleaned but was shoddy for weaponsmithing. I assumed the fourth was the usual ore from the dungeon Vincent had come from and it was yellowish in color, like gold, but it smelled like rotting eggs. It reminded me of the stuff in the dungeon with swords and I wanted nothing to do with it, but Vincent insisted on passing it to me while taking the three ores from my dungeon.

 Chapter 24: Range and Earring

    According to Vincent, leaving the ores by the entrance was perfectly fine as drops were reabsorbed into the dungeon much slower than corpses. However, things like my beer barrel or the weapons on my back from my spear to the sword I had just picked up would start breaking down as soon as I left the room or left unattended for an hour. That made me worry less about the ores and focus more on going further into the dungeon.


    While it was going to be even more dangerous due to the convergence upping the difficulty and amount of enemies, I now had an ally to work with. He wasn¡¯t someone I could completely trust but it was hard not to like him. His enthusiasm for killing monsters and working together rubbed off on me a bit. It felt like how I imagined a knight order should be when together rather than the constant distrust and worrying in my current knight order. Alas, Vincent already worked for another knight order that, while it may be allied with mine, was too far to work together consistently.


    Vincent helped me carry the barrel through to room twenty. If not for the convergence, I would have expected to face around sixty enemies unless it jumped up in numbers and size suddenly like room fifteen did. With the convergence, I wouldn¡¯t have been surprised to face over a hundred of these skeletons. Not for the life of me did I expect to face two of them. However, that¡¯s what appeared, two skeletons who were strange compared to the previous skeletons. It reminded me of when some of the skeletons started having swords.


    The one in the front wore full plate armor that only revealed the fact that a skeleton was wearing it through the gaps in the armor. In its hand was a machete, a long one-sided blade meant for chopping. Not only was it heavily armored and well armed, but it was also two heads taller than me while all of the previous skeletons were a head shorter than me. To make matters worse, it wasn¡¯t intimidated by the healing effect on our divine items. It started to walk towards us as soon as we came into the room and we were forced to set the barrel off to the side and get ready to fight.


    As soon as I lifted up my shield and went to draw my sword in case that wasn¡¯t enough to beat it, something hit the shield. A rock had stuck my shield, hard enough for it to jerk back, slam into my forehead and had me seeing black for a second. Behind the skeleton wearing armor and holding a sword was a second, less conspicuous skeleton that was just as dangerous as the first. While it may not have armor nor was it any bigger than a normal skeleton, it held a sling in one hand and a rock in the other. Not only that, but the ground in this room was unusually loose and rocky, giving it plenty of ammo for the sling.


    ¡°Take out the slinger, I¡¯ll handle the big guy,¡± shouted Vincent as he ran over to meet the machete-wielding skeleton with his spear. His spear was made of metal, high-quality stuff that didn¡¯t break from hard impacts.


    While he was clashing with the so-called big guy, the slinger slipped the rock into its sling and started spinning it in the air while taking aim at Vincent. I ran in front of its projected path and held my shield up with both my arms. It hit my shield with a loud thunk and nearly broke my arms. The impact was absorbed by my body and the rock fell powerlessly to the ground. So strong even though they were just rocks. I felt as if my role had swapped with all those skeletons I had beaten to the ground by lobbing ores at them. Suddenly, they didn¡¯t seem so pathetic for falling from getting hit by rocks.


    Behind me, Vincent was struggling to fight the armored skeleton and I needed to help him. Before that, I had to take out this ranged skeleton before it seriously hurt one of us. I wiped some sweat off my forehead only to find that it was blood not sweat. Too late, I was already hurt. While it was digging around at the ground to pick up another rock, I started charging towards it.


    Until I started running at it, it had been taking its sweet time choosing a rock but then it managed to find one, slip it in, and start spinning the sling in what seemed like an instant. I was forced to stop running and put up my shield in preparation for a rock being thrown at me. My head was lowered behind the shield to prevent it from being able to hit me in the head. It finally impacted with a loud crack and I fell to my knees.


    What had happened? That was the only thing going through my mind as I looked down to see my knee all bloodied and bits of a shattered rock scattered the area directly in front of me. Everything from my arms, to my stomach, and even my head was protected but my lower half was completely exposed. My shield was simply too small to defend from all directions. No pain was felt in my knee, just an aching sensation as the area throbbed in protest of what had just happened. There was no way I could stand back up after this and I was helplessly stuck on the ground as it prepared another attack.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    On my knees, I had a lot less surface area for the skeleton to attack and it was easier to guard with my shield. A few rocks hit the shield hard or skimmed my skin around the edges of the shield. At this point, the only good I was doing was keeping the slinger from attacking Vincent. I couldn¡¯t even check up on Vincent as the last time I tried looking behind me, one of the rocks skimmed my cheek, cutting it open. From the sounds of metal clashing, I knew that their battle was still ongoing and Vincent was still alive.


    Expecting Vincent to win and break this stalemate for me wasn¡¯t something I could count on. No doubt the armored skeleton was just as tricky to deal with as this slinging skeleton and he needed my help as much as I needed his. Since my legs were tied up from my bloodied knee, I had to resort to another method. As soon as the skeleton threw a rock my way, I pulled out the last ore I kept in my shirt and chucked it. Either it would dodge or get hit.


    Or not, as I threw the ore too hard and it flew over the skeleton¡¯s head. A chance presented itself as the skeleton got distracted by the ore and followed it with its skull. I pulled the shield off my arm and tucked it into my armpit before slinging it as hard as I could towards the skeleton and this time my aim was true, striking the skeleton in its back. It got knocked over and the shield landed on top of it, constantly burning it until it died.


    However, without the shield¡¯s healing assistance my body felt very weak and the pain from my knee hit me hard. All of the wine and food I had consumed earlier alongside some stomach acid came out of my mouth; I vomited all over the floor and felt horribly sick. Now I knew what Stephen had felt like when Chris suddenly tried to steal the shield from him. A sudden pain I had felt before but ignored since it wasn¡¯t much exploded as soon as the thing making it nothing much left my hands.


    At some point, the sounds of clashing metal behind me ended and Vincent pushed something into my hands, the shield. Both of the skeletons were now killed, one by me and the other by Vincent. The fact that I was unable to help Vincent in his fight made me feel even worse. If not for the fact that he looked completely unharmed, I would¡¯ve dropped the shield just so I¡¯d feel the pain again. The pain was what I deserved at this time for my failure.


    ¡°That was a crazy fight. Enemies like these normally don¡¯t come out until the thirtieth or even fortieth room. Evolved versions of the normal enemies. Let¡¯s distribute the rewards and agree on the fact that we should probably turn back now rather than go further and risk dying,¡± said Vincent while holding his hand out to me.


    I took his hand and got back up. With the shield back in my hands, I was already starting to feel better, if not sore all over and shaky. As for the rewards to distribute, there were two pedestals that had appeared in the middle of the room at some point. Both of them had some sort of jewel on them, one red and the other brown. They appeared to be enchanted items despite the fact that we hadn¡¯t faced enchanted enemies.


    ¡°They¡¯re earrings enchanted by elements. One with the power of earth and the other with fire. Neither have much of an effect for us. They¡¯re more meant for magic users as it increases their affinity and how many spells they can cast. Still, they¡¯re of considerable value and a good prize for this dungeon run. You go ahead and pick which one you like and I¡¯ll take the other one,¡± said Vincent.


    Magic users were very rare. They could channel elements to do things like shoot fireballs and create water from nothing. Granting them an item like this would curry many a favor or sell for a price that would keep me comfortable for the rest of my life, which would be one year if I just relaxed and stayed comfortable. The value of these earrings to me was highly dependent on the elements of the magic users in my country or neighboring countries. Which I had no idea about so I just chose the red one because fire looks cool and I¡¯ve got a fire sword to match it.


    Vincent took the brown, earth earring and happily helped me as I started dragging the barrel back towards the surface. Along the way, I picked up some of the ores I had left behind and then said my goodbyes to Vincent on the nineteenth floor. He had to go back to the place where he had come from to reunite with his allies. How nice it would have been to just go with him or convince him to come with me. Surely at some point, I would have an ally like Vincent in the knight order.


    The way back to the surface was wrought with hazards. Most of them due to all the ores falling out of my shirt and off the barrel. All the while, my knee was still in pain and wobbled every time I moved the barrel due to the strain. As much as I wanted to take a nice, long rest, I didn¡¯t want to fight a bunch of skeletons on the way back. It wasn¡¯t as if I hadn¡¯t had the opportunity with the rest area on the way.


    Once I finally made it to the first room right before the surface, I set the barrel down and tried straightening out my clothes and cleaning myself up. It was much harder than normal since I didn¡¯t have anything to wash with unless I took a beer bath and I was covered in blood, my own blood this time. Hopefully, I could just take the next day off to recover and my gains this day were enough to maybe rent a few more nights at the inn we were staying at. With that in mind, I picked the barrel back up and awkwardly wobbled towards the surface while fully expecting to be looked at like I was some weirdo.

 Chapter 25: The Inn Room

    Back on the surface, I found myself carrying a barrel of beer and a pile of ores, some in my shirt, others stacked on the barrel. The people lining up to get inside only took a passing glance at me before focusing on going into the dungeon themselves. Apparently, people leaving the dungeon with their arms full wasn¡¯t anything new not even with this barrel in my arms. As for the guards, they just laughed a bit at me struggling to carry everything out of the building without dropping anything. Right as I got outside, someone blocked my way.


    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a silver for all those ores,¡± said the man. He was some sort of merchant or perhaps a representative for one of these streetside stands everywhere.


    ¡°Thanks for the offer, I actually have seven of them,¡± I said while pulling out three more that were in my shirt, I left the bad smelling one there until I figured out its value.


    ¡°Seven? I thought you had eight with the bulges in your shirt. No matter, I¡¯ll still offer one silver for all of them,¡± said the man. Surprisingly he had already accounted for the other ones and the silver was for all of them, not just the four sitting on the barrel.


    ¡°I see shops around here selling three for a silver. Surely you can pay two silvers for seven ores,¡± I said in response. If he was offering one, then there was leeway for more as per the usual with merchants and the rules of haggling.


    ¡°And other shops selling five for one. Trust me, one silver is a good deal as most shops will only offer one silver for ten ores which you don¡¯t even have,¡± said the man and he was right. There wasn¡¯t much room for profit if he pays two silver unless there¡¯s someplace where they could be sold at a higher price than all these stands.


    ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll take your deal if you can explain the situation behind all these shops, this ore, and these crappy weapons,¡± I said. Heck, I¡¯d even pass these ores over for free in exchange for info like that which would be invaluable to our present situation in this city.


    ¡°A newcomer to this city? Well, the thing is that this ore is overly abundant here but rare everywhere else. A lot of places like using it as a cheap alternative to silver or zinc for coating their weapons and preventing rust. However, there isn¡¯t much profit in it as its still somewhat cheap in other places, so only individual merchants buy them every so often and they¡¯re less predictable than caravans so stands need to kept open for them almost constantly. When merchants come through, they buy in bulk and buy up pretty much everything in sight, sometimes barely caring about price. Adventurers and knights open their own shops to maximize profit and make it so that it¡¯s actually worth going in the dungeon with the fee,¡± explained the man.


    ¡°And the weapons made completely of this metal?¡± I asked.


    ¡°This metal has a lower melting point than iron so it¡¯s used as cheap practice by the local blacksmiths. Meanwhile, the merchants that pass through don¡¯t really care about the state of the metal and will buy the weapons to melt down later. If you want any more info, you¡¯ll have to pay me,¡± said the man while taking the ores off my hands and leaving after passing me a silver.


    I wasn¡¯t sure who came out of this deal better, but I had made back my fee for going into the dungeon, making the three other things pure profit. Four if I counted the food in the bucket but that had no value beyond me saving on food costs. The barrel of beer could be sold if I was in a desperate money situation while the sword and earring could easily sell for a decent sum. An even better use for it than selling it was drinking it of course.


    There was one major issue with moving the barrel to the inn where I could possibly start drinking it. And that was the fact that I had no clue where the inn was and had to wait for Matt to guide me. A ways away from the building I managed to find Jerry chatting with one of the many shops by the roadside about something. I walked up beside him, hoping he¡¯d either know where the inn was or at least a rough idea of when Matt would be back.


    He finished talking with the shopkeep and noticed me, ¡°Good timing captain. That dungeon had tons of this ore. They don¡¯t sell for much but I made my money back from the entrance fee. Sold twelve ores for a silver coin but it can¡¯t be helped with how easily these ores drop.¡±


    Twelve for a single silver? Jerry had gotten ripped off horribly. I guess that man I was talking to before was telling the truth and I did get a good price for my ores. That made me feel better about the whole situation. Even the fact that Jerry had been ripped off as he¡¯d still need two or more ores for it to warrant two silvers. I just had to sell this sword somewhere and I¡¯d have enough money to stay an extra night at the inn maybe.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    ¡°I managed to make a silver off the ores I got along with this barrel of beer from the rest area and a sword dropped from a normal enemy. The enemies were weak to divine items with healing, walking skeletons,¡± I said, describing the rough situation.


    ¡°So something like the ice shard dungeon? I can¡¯t understand how you can risk your life like that, even with a dungeon well suited for your strengths, you go so far that it¡¯s borderline suicidal,¡± said Jerry, my knowledge of that time had been shared to him during our meeting with Sanae Patil. He was right that I was reckless but it certainly brought results.


    ¡°Yeah, just like that. There was even a convergence but this time the other person waited for me and was friendly. I¡¯ll tell you the rest over a mug of this beer back at the inn. Do you know where it is or do we have to wait on Matt?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I do know. Matt got a bad monster type to fight against and after leaving, the guards told him he had to go back to the end of the queue and pay another silver to go back in. He couldn¡¯t afford it so he waited for me to come out and told me the rough location before going on ahead to check up on Stephen while I stayed to sell the ores,¡± said Jerry as he started to help me carry the barrel and guided me towards the inn.


    Conveniently enough, it wasn¡¯t that far away from the dungeon. At least, it wasn¡¯t far from the market with all the flags and ores so it¡¯d be easy to find my way back to the dungeon. It was in a residential area on the side of the markets and we didn¡¯t need to go through the inn¡¯s main building to reach our room. Unlike Tom¡¯s bar, the inn was only one floor that stretched deep into a cramped alleyway that only fit maybe two or three people walking side by side. Along the alley was a series of doors leading into rooms for the inn we were using and what I assumed was another inn on the other side.


    It was a tight fit with the barrel in our arms and there were a few people entering and leaving rooms, swearing at us as we went by since we were taking up a bunch of space. Insulting us just because they had less space to walk by us seemed a bit excessive especially with how tight the streets were. Surely they were used to it by now. Perhaps that was why they swore at us; they were too used to walking through tight walkways so when a walkway normally a bit more open was tight as well it¡¯d annoy them on top of the annoyance of having to walk through places like that every day.


    The room Matt had rented was around two-thirds of the way into the alley. I set the barrel off to the side then tried opening the room, only to find it lodged shut. Jerry knocked on the door and shouted that it was him. After a few moments and the sound of metal rubbing against each other, the door was opened, revealing an extremely tight and thin room. There was literally only a bed and a small amount of empty space at the base of the bed. We moved the barrel inside and set it to the side of the door and then Jerry took off his shoes and set them on the ground.


    If I wanted to sleep on the ground in here, I would have to either sleep in a seated position or have everyone¡¯s shoes as a pillow as my legs rested on the barrel. The room was very dim with only a small candle. As for the bed, it was covered in various stains including a white stain that I hoped was from the candle dripping down. There were no windows and the room felt almost airtight with a thick door with two locks on it to prevent theft. It was suffocating, cramped, dirty, expensive, and dark. This was not an ideal place to stay and I would jump on an opportunity to rent somewhere else if only we could afford it.


    I sat down on the edge of the bed and chatted with the others for a bit about the dungeon before I went out to get some mugs for the beer. We didn¡¯t need to find anywhere to eat because of the bucket of food I brought back and shared with the others. In the end, we ended up eating all the food and poured the barrel into the bucket, making it easier to pour into the mugs and spilling less. We still spilled some beer on the bed but it wasn¡¯t going to stain it anymore and it improved the smell in the room.


    After few mugs of beer, the room and this situation didn¡¯t feel so bad. We would just have to be lucky with our dungeons so we don¡¯t have to leave and then grind up a bunch of ores. Stephen and Matt mentioned at some point while eating that they had seen adventurers and knights carrying around massive bags of ores and that was something we could do as well. With how frequent the ores dropped, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if we could gather forty in one run then sell them all for four to five silvers.


    If I was going to do that, it¡¯d be in my best interest to buy a better set of clothes, preferably one with pockets to carry even more. I ended up passing the sword that dropped from the dungeon to Matt rather than selling it since he needed a weapon and his hatchet would break in one use. As for the earring, I soaked the sharp part of in the beer for a few seconds then pierced my earlobe. My shaggy hair would hide it from plain sight and I might as well wear it until I found someone to sell or trade it to.


    The others saw this and drunkenly laughed at this antic, thinking it was some knick knack I picked up in the market that I believed was actually valuable. If that was what they wanted to believe, I wasn¡¯t going to stop them. Even with Matt proving himself to be somewhat trustworthy and the others being fellow believers of Sanae Patil, the fewer people who knew the better. A best-case scenario is that it would help me despite the fact that it¡¯s only supposed to be useful for magic users, like amplifying my fire sword or something like that. I should have checked back when I was still in the dungeon but was reluctant to put the earring in until I had a few drinks in me.

 Chapter 26: Stringbag

    In the morning, I woke up with a hangover and found myself sitting on the floor and hugging the barrel of beer. Before I had gone to sleep, I had passed the shield back to Stephen and was regretting that decision massively. As I shook myself awake and took a small sip of wine, the shield was pushed into my hands. Stephen was already wide awake thanks to the shield and necklace preventing his hangover while the others were still passed out and sleeping in odd positions all over the bed.


    With the shield in hand, I was already feeling better and decided to go off on a dungeon run before anyone got up. I still had the silver from selling the ores yesterday for entering the dungeon. The problem is that I didn¡¯t have any other money on hand currently. Jerry still had all the remaining cash and had a tight hold over it so we¡¯d be able to keep the room for a few more days. If I wanted to get new clothes or a bad to carry stuff with, I¡¯d need to sell off the other ore that I had held onto that Vincent had pushed onto me. Even if it wasn¡¯t worth much, it was making my clothes and body smell awful so getting rid of it was a priority.


    As I exited the room, Stephen closed things up and locked them behind me. Although it was terrible to think as much, it was awfully convenient that Stephen was injured and could watch over the room and keep our stuff safe while we were out and about. That door bold could only be used with someone in the room and I didn¡¯t trust the door¡¯s regular lock fully. Back in my old hometown, there was a blacksmith who knew a bit of locksmithing and apparently picking locks like those were fairly easy for those that knew how.


    It was already in the afternoon and the alley where the room lied was even more empty than before. The few people that were here leaned against the walls, drinking or eating while watching the crowd go by on the street. Did they have nothing better to do or were they criminals, looking for a target to rob? Not like I could judge them with my looks. I looked homeless compared to most people around here. Then again, plenty of merchants and adventurers slept outside the gate with clothes and armor that looked quite pricey so the standard was high for the homeless.


    Before heading towards the dungeons, I headed towards the more general market area, the place with all the food. While most of the place was dominated by stands selling cheap food and various ingredients, there were merchants selling jewelry, the odd knick-knack, tools, and even a few places selling the same ore as before except at two pieces for a silver, the most expensive I had seen it yet. I decided to walk up to them, despite their high prices, not as a customer but more of someone asking for directions. Surely a shop selling ores and weapons would know a blacksmith or an area where I could exchange this ore, if they wouldn¡¯t buy it themselves.


    ¡°Hey there, have you seen this sort of ore before?¡± I asked while pulling it out.


    ¡°That¡¯s no metal ore if I¡¯ve ever seen one. Seems to be some strange material, but it smells and looks like a rock that you just pissed on for a few days,¡± said the merchant quite bluntly.


    ¡°Do you know anywhere I could sell this and would you buy it? I assure you it''s no piss rock. I picked it up from the dungeon in the later floors,¡± I said.


    ¡°Smells like a scam to me. Buzz off and bother someone else unless you¡¯re buying. If you insist on trying to sell that shit, then keep going to the left until it opens up to the smith quarter. The people there have good eyes and will beat the piss out of you if you try to pull a fast one,¡± said the merchant. He was rude and wanted me to go away, but gave me some valuable information so I thanked him anyway.


    To the right was the dungeon and the inn I was staying in so I headed in the opposite direction towards this supposed smith quarter. With a name like that, I imagined blacksmiths lining every corner of the street like the ore stands around the dungeon. Instead, I found a relatively quiet area with only a few people. There were some buildings here and there with smokestacks and the sounds of metal clashing. Blacksmiths obviously held some position and wealth in this town, affording their own buildings, often with more than one floor in their own little area that didn¡¯t border any residential areas nor did it have much foot traffic.


    The roads were so clear that carriages could come through. One of the carriages passing by was completely filled with various weapons and ores. It stopped next to me and the merchant motioned towards me so I walked up to it. He motioned for me to get even closer so I climbed into the coachmen¡¯s seat on the carriage.


    ¡°Could you pass me that staff for a second?¡± asked the merchant, referring to the crappy staff I bought yesterday. It was still strapped to my back with my spear and was covered in cracks so I was considering just throwing it out.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    His hands ran along the cracks on the spear and then tapped it on the edge of the carriage. Checking to see if something was hollow was the norm for pretty much anything. Not just to prevent being ripped off, but to also look for hidden compartments containing valuables. After checking out a few other things, he smiled and seemed satisfied with it.


    ¡°What caused this crack?¡± asked the merchant and I was more than happy to tell him. Since he was taking such an interest in it, that meant he might be interested in buying it.


    ¡°I was curious as to why so many weapons were made of this material and if it was effective despite being so light. In the dungeon, I hit a skeleton monster in its head and this is the result. If you think this crack is bad, you should have seen the skeleton,¡± I said while embellishing the story a bit.


    ¡°A skull bashing staff. Now that¡¯s quite the story. A story like that alone is worth a drink in any bar. I¡¯ll take it,¡± said the merchant while tossing it in the back and passing me a silver for it. That was double the value I paid for since we got two weapons for one silver yesterday.


    I took the silver and hopped off the carriage, waving at him as he continued down the street. What a nice guy he was. After he was out of sight, I realized I should have shown him the ore to see if he would buy it. No matter, I could always try selling it to a blacksmith. And with that thought in mind, I entered one of the buildings at random and found myself in more of a shop than a smithy. There were weapons lining the walls and armors held up on wooden poles so they¡¯d be at the same height as they¡¯d be if I was wearing them.


    From the sounds of hammering, the actual smithy was in the back along with the smith himself. In his stead, there was a young man of twelve or thirteen in the shop. He was most likely an apprentice and the person who I would have to talk with rather than the smith. His eyes were glued to the back area, likely having an angle to watch the blacksmith work from his position. He didn¡¯t notice me until I closed the door behind me.


    ¡°Hello mister, what can I help you with?¡± asked the boy while coming out from behind the counter and walking up to me. It had been a long time since I had been treated with respect by a stranger.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got this ore I got from the dungeon and I was wondering if I could get it identified and sold possibly,¡± I said while pulling out the ore. He took one whiff of it and suddenly took a few steps back, keeping his distance from me.


    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen something like that so I¡¯d have to get master to look at it. Just know that he has a short temper with things like this,¡± he said, thinking this was some sort of scam or joke like the shop owner who pointed me this way. I nodded my head in understanding and the boy went to the back.


    The sounds of metal clashing stopped a few moments later and a buff man covered completely in soot walked out. His face was contorted into a grimace either from being disturbed in his work or from how dirty he currently was. I passed the ore into his hands and his nose wrinkled up in disgust. A few moments later, he set it on a nearby shelf and waved for the boy to come back.


    ¡°Boy, work the counter. I¡¯m covered in dust. He¡¯s got a chunk of sulfur. Give him two coins or an item worth three. If he wants more, give it back to him and kick him out,¡± he said before walking back to the smithy and resuming his work. Not much of a businessman with that take it or leave deal. I¡¯d prefer to trade for an item for the full three coins worth if I could.


    ¡°Do you have a set of clothes or a bag I could use to carry a large number of ores in? I would rather take those than coin if I could,¡± I said to the boy as he stepped back to the counter.


    ¡°We don¡¯t have clothes, only armor. You¡¯d need to talk to a tailor for that. As for bags for transporting ores, we have those but I¡¯m not sure if we sell them. I¡¯ll go ask,¡± said the boy as he went into the back. Another minute passed before he came back and during that time the hammering never stopped.


    In his hands was a leather sack as big as me. Its outside was brown while the insides were pitch black from use. Around the opening of the bag was some slits with rope around it. I could use that to not only close up the bag but also to sling it over my shoulder for easier carrying. It was perfect for my needs.


    ¡°It¡¯s not exactly worth three silver but close enough. Good luck with your ventures and hope to do business with you again,¡± said the boy.


    Next time I need a smith for something, I would probably check out the other places first to get a good comparison on prices and what not. The only reason I didn¡¯t do so this time is because I just wanted to get rid of the stinking thing. So far in the city, I hadn¡¯t been ripped off too badly and felt confident I had gotten a good deal despite my lack of comparisons or knowledge on the sulfur. I had traded away something I didn¡¯t need for something I did. Is that not the basis for all trade?


    Backtracking to the dungeon, I looked around to see if any other adventurers or knights had bags or other things like that. There were very few which surprised me. How did they make a profit off the dungeon without carrying back large amounts of the ore? Carrying enough for the trip to be worthwhile wasn¡¯t feasible without a good bag.


    The queue was basically the same as it was yesterday and I managed to get into the dungeon after paying the toll of silver. There was no going back now. That was my only silver on hand and if I had to leave, I¡¯d have to get more money from Jerry. My worst fear is that I would face up against an enemy that was hard or annoying to deal with. That fear was realized.

 Chapter 27: Dog Bite

    The first thing that greeted me as I entered the dungeon was a faceful of water droplets. A constant stream of water leaked from the ceiling of the room, dropping down like rain. Not to mention the room was extremely hot with the rain was lukewarm and offered no relief. In fact, it made the room muggy and washed away my sweat before it could cool me down. It was downright suffocating.


    As for the monster, I couldn¡¯t see it at first as the water got in my eyes and I was constantly having to wipe it off my face or blink. I heard it before I saw it as an ominous short bark came from the center of the room. The sound reminded me of the hounds used for hunting in the woods and sent shivers down my spine. Those things could take down prey twice their size and fought monsters in the wild toe to toe.


    It flitted along the edge of my vision, jumping back and forth just out of my eyes¡¯ reach. The room was dark and the rain didn¡¯t help too much with sight. As it was raining, I doubted the fire sword would be effective but drew it anyway. The light from the flames made the monster visible at last. Just as I had suspected, it looked like a dog, a heavily deformed one but there were strong similarities in its general shape and behavior. It was pitch black, allowing it to blend into the darkness quite well with some red streaks which was probably what caught my eye and allowed me to see it at all. Then it burst into flames just like my sword, lighting up its position.


    A fire monster in a room filled with rain. That was just downright ridiculous but who was I to say anything when I took out my flame sword. Both my sword and the monster sizzled in the rain as the water evaporated on contact. Rather than my sword, I probably should bring out my spear instead to take on this enemy. My sword wouldn¡¯t be able to damage it with its flames and was rendered an ordinary sword. A dog was the type of enemy I¡¯d like to keep at a distance so it wouldn¡¯t be able to rip out my throat. There was even a bit of temptation to pull out the dagger and try to kill it with that.


    However, at this moment, it was sizing me up, watching my every move. As it could no longer hide, it chose to wait for the right opportunity. I could feel its eyes staring at my neck, readying to pounce at the first sign of weakness. Pulling out my spear or dagger would require sheathing my sword, putting my shield down, or awkwardly holding both the spear and sword at the same time. I stood as unmoving as the dog before me and watched the steam rising from my blade and the dog. It was the first one to break the standoff, leaping into the air towards me.


    I lifted up my arms to protect my neck, crisscrossing my shield and sword in front of me while lowering my knees and spreading my legs out to take the impact. When it hit me, there was a flash of light that filled the room and reflected off the raindrops. It was like a bolt of lightning hit me. I pushed back, trying to throw it off me while cutting it with my sword, only to hear a noise reminiscent of metal hitting metal. A few steps away from me, the dog landed on the ground, completely unharmed. So it was also an armored enemy.


    Or at least that¡¯s what I thought when one of its forearms broke off and it became a three-legged dog. It was metallic yet brittle and easy broken, just like the ore that dropped from this entrance to the dungeon. Despite its amputation, the dog beast continued to stare me down. Not like it could flee even if it wanted to. Only one of us could survive, it or me. Running away like those skeletons had would accomplish nothing.


    I walked closer to it, thinking it was only putting up a front and was actually unable to do anything in its injured state. The result was that I learned a missing leg did nothing to limit its mobility or how scary it was. It kicked off the ground and skidded across the ground towards me. Its jaws clamped down around my ankle as I tried to jump away in shock. Not only could I feel pain but an intense heat similar to the time when my arm was cut and burned off. Instinctively, I shook my leg and slammed its body onto the ground but it refused to let go.


    Even when I started slamming the sword onto its neck, it didn¡¯t flinch once and continued to clamp down. Pieces of its body broke off, making it look more like a rock than a living being. Instead of blood, flames spewed out of its wounds until I broke through its neck and decapitated the creature. No relief from my pain came with its lifeless body on the ground as its head stayed on my leg. At this point it was dead and the portal appeared, yet its body did not dissipate nor did it let go of my ankle.


    Since I knew it was dead, I relaxed somewhat and sat down, no longer worried about getting my throat ripped out and more concerned with getting the dog head off. At first, I tried to pry open its jaws with my bare hands as I could fit my fingers in and grip the top and bottom of its mouth without cutting myself on its teeth. However, it was stuck closed and I couldn¡¯t pull it apart. My second try involved sliding the sword between my leg and its jaw, with the back of the blade facing my leg of course, then using it like a lever to push its mouth apart with far more force than my hands could to no avail.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    As more time passed, the pain in my leg faded away somewhat and I was trying to take it off more out of annoyance than desperation. It wasn¡¯t like I could just leave with it on my leg. Or could I? Its body hadn¡¯t dissipated at all and I could pick it up and move it around. Like the blood from the monsters staining my body, couldn¡¯t I just leave the dungeon and it¡¯d stay on me? And if that didn¡¯t work, wouldn¡¯t the monster head disappear upon leaving, solving my issue?


    There was no chance in hell that I was going deeper into the dungeon. The loss of one silver was preferable to facing this sort of enemy in these conditions. Just in case, I pulled out my new bag and piled in the lower body of the dog, along with the leg I broke off and the tiny pieces that once constituted its neck. They might be valuable or my thought about it breaking similarly to the ore could be closer to the truth than I thought. If its body was made of loot, would it not stay in this state after dying?


    Not even a day passed since I had bought this bag and already it was drenched in water. Which was probably a good thing as it would prevent the body of this fire dog thing from burning it. Hopefully, it wouldn¡¯t burn any holes into the bag and keep it in a usable condition. Nonetheless, it was a bag designed for carrying ores and was suitably sturdy, holding the entire body of the dog with plenty of space for more. I tied its top closed then stood up with my ankle protesting from the movement.


    Overall, I wasn¡¯t hurt too much and could walk just fine if not a bit stiff. Every time I moved it hurt, but it was more of a stinging pain that was comparable to overstraining myself from carrying something too heavy. I left the dungeon completely drenched in water with a dog head attached to my ankle. This time, I actually attracted some attention from the crowd as they pointed at the dog head. I decided it was best to head back to the inn to figure out what to do next.


    The short walk was excruciating with all of the stares I was getting. Those were even more of a pain than my actual injury and I wished people would just mind their own business as they usually did. Yesterday I wouldn¡¯t have minded stares as it would¡¯ve made my haul seem more impressive. Instead, they all brushed it off as normal, and it sorta was normal other than the barrel, but now I had to be the talk of the city. It made me wonder how they would¡¯ve reacted to my arm being chopped off awhile ago.


    They probably wouldn¡¯t have reacted at all since amputees weren¡¯t actually too uncommon. Losing an arm loses its effect when the people around you didn¡¯t even know you had an arm in the first place. More likely they would have just reacted to my flaming sword had it been out like it was that day. Which is more or less the same treatment I had gotten back in town other than a few people who knew me better like Tom.


    Back at the inn, I found Jerry and Matt outside the room, getting ready to go on a dungeon run or perhaps find a place to grab breakfast. I waved my hand to get their attention and then pointed towards the dog head, hoping they would help me brainstorm a way to get rid of it. We ended up going back inside the room as I explained what happened.


    ¡°Why not chop your foot off just above the head?¡± asked Matt. He seemed serious about his suggestion rather than joking.


    ¡°It¡¯s not bad enough to warrant chopping it off. My foot still works just fine and the teeth aren¡¯t cutting in too deep. It¡¯s just stuck and hard to get off. Why would you even suggest such a thing?¡± I asked.


    ¡°You can just grow it back, can¡¯t you? You¡¯ve already done it once,¡± said Matt, explaining his reasoning.


    ¡°It takes awhile to do that and I¡¯m already hogging the necklace during the day and the shield as well at night. Your suggestion would put him out of commission for a while and make it take longer for me to heal,¡± said Stephen.


    ¡°If we can¡¯t get it off after like a month, maybe your suggestion would be reasonable if we have enough money to get by and nobody injured. However, we should be able to get it off through other methods easily enough before then,¡± said Jerry while pulling a dagger out of a sheath on his leg. I never knew he had a dagger there.


    He started poking around on the head with the dagger. Eventually, he settled around the teeth, poking the blade into where the dog¡¯s gums would be if it were made of flesh and not stone, ore, or whatever the hell it was. After jiggling it around a bit on both sides, the tooth came loose. Encourage by this, Jerry did the same for the other fangs, loosening all of them. Just like that, the dog¡¯s mouth suddenly could be opened and separated from my leg.


    The last thing to do was pull out all of the teeth and stem the blood. I did this one at a time to keep my bleeding to a minimum, using some of the beer to clean my wounds and to quench my thirst. Nothing like a good drink after some hard work even though it was still morning. Like that, the problem was resolved and my injuries would be healed up fairly quickly since they were superficial.


    Now that Jerry and Matt were up, we decided to go out together and grab some breakfast then bring back a portion for Stephen. By then, my leg would probably be healed enough for another attempt on the dungeon. And while we were out there, perhaps we could find a buyer for this dog beast and perhaps find out what it was made of. As long as it was worth a good silver, I¡¯d be fine with it.

 Chapter 28: Head Sale

    I tossed the head of the dog beast into my bag along with its fangs and headed out towards the food market. We planned on grabbing more of the stew there as it was the cheapest food around. As we walked through the area with the dungeon to get there, I noticed something unusual about the shops all around. There were a lot less of the places selling ores and there seemed to be a shortage of ores. The few shops still selling them wouldn''t part with them unless I paid a silver for a single ore.


    Meanwhile, the queue for the dungeon extended out into the street and around the corner out of sight behind some buildings and then peeked out the other side of the buildings back into this area. If we wanted to enter the dungeon, it would take far more than a few minutes, possibly even an hour or two. It wasn''t hard the guess the reason why; demand for these ores had skyrocketed and dungeon exploring was suddenly more popular.


    There was that merchant yesterday who bought my staff for a good price and had a cartful of ores and weapons made from that ore. If a few merchants came through like that, they could buy out pretty much all the ore in the city. Knowing this, I came to regret my decision to sell off all the ores as soon as they got in my hands. It was a far more effective plan to hold onto it then sell it to a merchant coming through or to the shops devoid of stock after a merchant came through if I miss that chance. Heck, with Stephen out of commission we could even have him run a stand until he recovered with all the ores we''d gather from the dungeon.


    Nonetheless, we did need money to enter the dungeon and to rent the room so we couldn''t afford to not sell the ores. That and these flags seemed to be markers for different spots as there were places with no stand set up and a flag over it. Which was even more prominent with a lot of these places gone from having no stock. If we wanted our own spot, we''d have to set up a flag in an empty location where it''s allowed and for all we knew, we''d have to pay for it as well. No doubt there would be some sort of tax on it.


    "Should I save us a spot in the line? It seems awfully long and you guys could just bring a portion to me," said Matt while pointing towards the line.


    "No need. That line will die down on its own," said Jerry while continuing to walk towards the food market.


    "And if it gets longer?" I asked. If it got this long, what was stopping it from getting even longer. There were tons of adventurers and knights in this town and there was the distinct smell of profitable ventures in the air.


    "If we don''t go now, we''ll miss out on this opportunity. Just look at the prices on these ores. I reckon we could get a silver for two or three pieces. I alone could grind up a week''s worth of rent if I get lucky," said Matt.


    "Look at all the bags and such they''re carrying. Everyone and their mother has the same idea as you. By the time we get to the front of the line, tons of them would pile out with huge bags, selling tons of ore everywhere. By the time we got out, I wouldn''t be surprised if there was so much of a surplus that we''d have to give them twenty ores for a single silver," said Jerry. Which was quite the reasonable prediction.


    We noticed this situation too late to take advantage of it. Or rather, I noticed the beginning of it but didn''t think of the consequences. Next time would be different. An opportunity lost this time due to ignorance guaranteed that I would pay more attention the next. I could make it big in the city and intended to do so. But first, we had to eat and let this line die down.


    "Is there even a point to going into the dungeon today if prices will drop so low? It''s not like there is room at the inn for us to store ores unless we rent the room to just store ores and sleep outside or on top of them," said Matt, bringing up a good point. A lot of these ores were needed to make a profit and prices would definitely be low for a bit.


    "No, we can''t afford a rest day. If anything we''ll just get so many ores that we still turn a profit even with the lowered price. Then keep whatever''s leftover until prices get back to normal or become favorable again. As tight a fit as the room is now, we could still put some ores in the corners of the room," said Jerry.


    It wasn''t as if we couldn''t afford a rest day, but that it would put extra pressure on us the next day. Better to just get things done today than push it off until tomorrow. I had already gone into the dungeon once today and was unsuccessful. That is, unless this dog beast is of value. I thought about trying to sell it now since we were in the area with all the ores, but decided it would be best to have a blacksmith look at it and identify what it was made of.


    Since there was a huge line that we decided not to hold a place in and that we would let it die down, we took our time choosing our food. I didn''t immediately go up to the stands with the cheap stew, but actually looked around the food stands, hoping to find cheap and good food. I''d rather have fresh fruit and veggies over the stew with close to rotten ingredients in it if the price was right. Jerry had brought along the bucket I had gotten from the dungeon and soon enough it was piled with fruits, veggies, and a few strips of dried meat.


    Unfortunately, we did end up paying around double the amount than we would for four portions of the stew. However, the bucket was pretty much overflowing with food. Plenty of stands were willing to throw on extras when we bought more than one ingredient. Half the bucket alone were cheap and common things like tomatoes and potatoes. It would be even better if we could cook or stew these ingredients together but to do that we needed pot a cook it in and a place where we could set a fire. Which more than likely required leaving the city limits as I doubted any stands or restaurants would let us cook our own food using their facilities.


    I parted ways with Jerry and Matt as they headed back towards the inn. I stayed behind with a tomato in one hand and the bag with the dog corpse in the other. The smithies were just beyond this market where I could assess it and hopefully dispose of it for coin. As for the tomato, I was hungry. Normally I''d eat a tomato with something else but they were fine to eat on their own, especially the large and sweet ones.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    By the time I polished off the tomato and wiped my face and hands off on my shirt, I was back in the district filled with smiths. While I could have just gone to the same place as before, this time I walked into a different building. Restricting myself to one blacksmith before checking them all out wasn''t a good plan and I had all the time I needed today. That line from before would take at least an hour or two to die down if no one else joined it, which inevitably a few would.


    The building I walked into this time gave off a cleaner and more luxurious feel. All of the products were set upon individual pedestals or encased in glass while the room itself was colder than outside and well lit by a chandelier of candles augmented by a few scattered candles on the walls close to the corners, eliminating any dark spots or shadows. There wasn''t even the sound of hammering in the back. It was if this wasn''t a smithy at all but a normal, if not high end, shop.


    There was a worker there, an older man with graying hair, wearing a white shirt with a black vest and pants. He even wore glasses; a luxury few could afford nor would they buy it even if they could afford it and had eye problems. The more I looked around, the less welcome I felt here with my raggedy clothes and the worker even grimaced at me. A silent message of "get out" was transmitted to me from his facial expression of disgust with his nose turned up and eyebrows folded down.


    I would have walked out myself after seeing what sort of place this was if not for that expression pissing me off. Why couldn''t I shop or sell here? While my clothes were ragged, pretty much everything else on my body was of some value, from enchanted and divine items to even my worn down spear. Just to show off a bit and change the way he looked at me, I drew my sword slowly, starting with just a tiny bit that glowed and then flames began to roll about, licking the freshly exposed metal. Oddly enough, the fire also touched my hand but I didn''t feel any pain. It, of course, was still hot and heated up the air around me, but not to an uncomfortable degree. Whatever made the air cool in this place interacted with the heat and created a breeze, pushing around my hair.


    Of course, with such a display, the worker erased his previous expression and transitioned to a friendly smile without a bit of shock. How professional of him. After putting an act up like that, I couldn''t just leave. I decided it''d be best to show the dog corpse and have him assess it before he starts getting any funny ideas like trying to buy the sword. Which was probably unavoidable now that I showed it off as if it was the thing I was trying to sell.


    "Could you run an assessment on this?" I asked while sheathing my sword and bringing up my bag.


    "Certainly. Just give me one second to lay out a proper work surface," said the worker while bringing out a slightly dirty towel and laying it over one of the display cases. Obviously, they were used to people like me occasionally trudging in with dirty items, trying to sell them.


    I laid out the pieces of the dog beast''s corpse on the table, trying to keep it as close to the original as possible with the head resting near where its neck was and the teeth lying next to it. The worker pulled out some tools, a hammer, and a pick, laying them on the towel. Then he picked up the head of the dog beast and moved it around, inspecting it for any damages. He even took the time to put the teeth back into its mouth and managed to make them stick.


    "This head alone could sell as a decorational piece while the rest of the body is too damaged and would need to be disposed of as the scrap metal it is. Unfortunately, it''s not even steel. It''s that alum stuff sold all over the streets that comes from the public dungeon. However, there is one promising part," he said while running his hand down the red streak on the side of the dog beast.


    At this point, he used the tools he had brought out to hammer the pick into the chest of the dog beast and pry it apart. Piece by piece, the main body of the beast fell apart and revealed its red tinted interior, with a gem in the center of its body. Before touching it, the worker pulled out some gloves from the back and carefully broke the pieces of ore around it. Once it was freed, the worker lifted the gem up into the air and adjusted his glasses with his offhand.


    "A fire gem. What a novelty. In the hands of a wizard, they could use this to fuel one minor fire magic before it would crumble into dust. As there aren''t any fire mages in this country or the surrounding ones, it''s basically a shiny stone that resembles a gem. Not even a noble would buy it unless it larger and able to fuel stronger magics. Hold onto it for good luck I''d say," said the worker while passing it over to me. I was reluctant to take it as he wore gloves while handling it, but then he grabbed my hand and forced it into my palm.


    Apparently, it was just fine to hold it with my bare hands. Why was he wearing gloves then? Was he just a clean freak that wanted to avoid directly touching these materials or was there some sort of danger that the gem could pose if it were a different type or still attached to the dog beast''s corpse. I ended up pushing everything back into the bag other than the gem and the head of the dog piece as the worker went into the back to grab some money to pay for it.


    "Here''s two silvers as an advance on the head. I''ll get you the rest after I sell it. We guarantee you at least two-thirds of the price we sell it off. Come back after a day or two, preferably with proper clothes in case a customer comes. Also, if you ever want to sell that necklace, let me know," said the worker while placing two silvers on the counter.


    I took the coins and walked out while wondering how he knew about the necklace. Reaching up towards my hair, I found most of it blown off to one side, giving a full view of it. When I had shown off with my sword, the air must''ve blown around my hair. So, it wasn''t my sword that changed his attitude but my enchanted necklace.


    By the time I was back in the food markets, I realized that I had just trusted the worker to pay me more later on when I came back, giving him the head without any sort of haggling. Then again, where else would I sell it? Directly to a noble or rich merchant was a no go and other shops in that area might not be interested in decorational items. And if I tried to sell it as a material, it was just the same ore as before and wouldn''t be even worth a single silver on its own.


    It would be a pain in the ass to go back and argue with him over the dog beast''s head so I''d just check in tomorrow or the day after and figure things out. Hopefully, I''d just get more money to the point where I''d be satisfied and more than happy with the transaction. Worst comes to worst, I got two silvers out of it and lost a monster head made of alum, I think it was called. There was nothing else I could do until then but try to sell the rest of this off while prices were high, grab some more food back at the inn with some beer to wash it down, then do another dungeon run.

 Chapter 29: Living Puddle

    By the time I got back to the markets around the dungeon, there were far more shops set up than before and plenty of them were starting to fill up on ores. As Jerry had predicted, the line to the dungeon was starting to thin rapidly, with many people outright leaving after seeing the prices of ores drop all around them. They knew that there wasn''t much of a chance to make it big anymore. Even if they had waited in line for an hour, it just wasn''t worth it anymore.


    I found one shop that hadn''t gotten any stock and sold the rest of the beast''s corpse to him. Unfortunately, without the fire gem, the reddish ore went back to the almost silver-like appearance of alum so I couldn''t try and convince the salesman that it was special and ask a higher price. The corpse was around the same mass as twelve ores and I sold it for two silvers, bringing the total on hand to four. If not for the fact that the pieces were so broken up and that more and more ore was bringing dragged out of the dungeon by the moment, I might have been able to haggle out a third coin or some of the local currency.


    After that, I returned to the inn four silver richer than before and enjoyed the leftover food with a mug or two of beer. Despite all our drinking, the barrel had dropped only a finger''s length and I still had a bit of wine leftover in my shirt. Apparently, we could afford one more night than expected in the inn due to food expenses and alcohol being lowered from my efforts. That hyped me up for the next dungeon run as I could contribute heavily simply from reaching the rest area, not even mentioning all the ores I could gather along the way.


    It wasn''t long before I was back at the front of the line before the dungeon. The others heard about the line dying down from me and rushed over as soon as I finished eating. At that point, there were only four or five people in the line while the rest had already given up. I was surprised by how much it had emptied out even with the shops all around resuming their usual prices and stock.


    "Two silvers, not one for today," said the guard when I gave him one of the silvers I had earned.


    "Two? Why did the price go up?" I asked.


    "It''s a method to lower the lines on busy days like this one. The price will go back to one silver tomorrow," said the guard while passing the silver in his hand back to me, assuming I was going to leave after complaining about the price.


    "Well, the lines aren''t long anymore nor is it busy. Why wait the entire day to drop the price when this is a good as time as any?" I asked.


    "I''d love to drop the price back down but rules are rules. It lasts the entire day as sometimes merchants will come in all around the same day, separated by a few hours, making the prices everywhere go crazy. Even with things going back to normal now, it can change on the turn of a coin. We can''t raise and lower the prices constantly throughout the day as we''re expected to be somewhat consistent as the public dungeon," said the guard.


    It made sense to some degree but felt unfair. Now I had to decide whether it was worth two silvers to enter the dungeon. Sure, I had managed to profit from it so far but if I was unlucky then it would make things an even bigger loss than usual. The same could be said for Jerry and Matt. So much for saving on food and drink expenses. I pushed back the silver and put another in the guard''s hand before walking into the dungeon.


    If I thought about it in another way, I had made four or more silvers this morning and so entering the dungeon again for two silvers would still end up with one silver profit overall for the day even if I fail miserably like with the dog beast but unable to sell its corpse. So one silver or two silvers was overthinking things. I just had to make sure I ended up on top by the end of the day.


    Green walls surrounded me as I came upon the first room of the dungeon. In the middle of the room was a blue puddle, not the usual blue that I would expect of water, but dark blue that did not betray the contents of its depths. The puddle was the monster for sure or was hiding the monster in some way. Poking the puddle with my spear was the best course of plan.


    After what seemed like days, I''d finally be using the spear to some effect. Every time I had pulled it out lately it seemed like I was forced to put it away or drop it in favor of the sword. Relying too much on the sword was a bad thing as there would be times in the future where it wouldn''t be effective. If only I had an enchanted spear, or maybe a club, or clothes. Normal clothes would be fine too, anything other than these rags.


    The puddle reacted to me thrusting my spear at it by moving around to avoid it. The liquid parted and created a hole where the ground was visible right where my spear hit. Good thing that I only wanted to poke and feel around a bit to find the monster or I might have broken my spear and hurt my arm if I stabbed it at full force. That might have happened even if it hadn''t moved with how thin it was.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Moving around my spear, I found the liquid reacted and moved to avoid it while reforming in the path behind it. I tried waving it around right down the middle to see if the puddle would separate in half and stay that way to no avail. The two sides would always stay connected by even the tiniest drop and managed to avoid my spear''s movements.


    At this point, it''d probably be easier to take out the fire sword and try to evaporate the liquid, killing the monster through heat. That or the dark dagger with its instant killing abilities. I could just lay it on the ground near the puddle and then move my spear in a way that pushes it into the dagger, killing it instantly if I was lucky. However, I wanted to know if there was a way to kill this type of monster without relying on an enchanted item.


    Considering its liquid body, I doubted that my spear would be much effective even if it did cut into it. Why did it dodge my strikes anyway? It could part its body at will so being cut posed no issue. The only weakness I found so far is its refusal to completely detach a part of itself and its extreme dislike of being touched. How could something like this even hurt me? I could not harm it and it could not harm me.


    Eventually, I gave up and pulled out the fire sword and tried stabbing it close to the puddle. Once again, it moved out of the way and even the flames did nothing. It ignored the heat and continued dodging the sword strikes the same way it did when I was using the spear but now I had to stand much closer and backed off a few times. Who knew what it would do if I got too close. I sheathed the sword and pulled out the spear again to keep my distance.


    If I couldn''t find a way to kill this monster with my spear within the next minutes, I decided to just leave. This thing, whatever it was, was a pain in the ass to deal with. I should have just waited until the next day to enter the dungeon. First I had to deal with an armored dog beast in the rain and now my enemy was a freaking puddle I couldn''t hurt. At the very least, I could leave and say I still made a silver in profit for the day.


    There was one part of the puddle that moved slower than the rest. It was a clump in the puddle that appeared a bit more solid. I found it right around the time I was about to give up and felt it was the key to defeating it. After all, it was the only part of the puddle slow enough that I might hit it. The only reason I hadn''t yet was because I was trying to isolate it from the rest of the puddle, pushing it towards the edge and seeing if I could completely cut it off from the rest despite my previous failed attempts.


    Finally, I stabbed this clump and watched as the puddle dried up, seeping between the cracks on the ground, leaving behind only the clump underneath my spear. I picked up the clump and before my eyes, the liquid around it dissipated, revealing a chunk of ore, the same ore as before. The main body and weakness of the puddle was ore, just like how the dog beast was made of ore. If not for the skeletons I had faced when I first came here, I would think this sort of thing was normal. I put the ore in my bag and moved on to the next room.


    Five rooms later and five more ores in my bag, I expected to be faced with two puddles and instead found one large puddle. It was roughly twice the size of the previous ones and I assumed it had two ores inside of it. At least, that¡¯s what I hoped as things would be annoying if I only got one ore from fighting this thing. Or perhaps not as these enemies seemed easy enough and if they gave too many ores I would have less of a reason to go further in and have to carry a bulky bag along with me.


    When I approached the puddle, a part of it started to lift up and formed a hand that lunged towards my leg. I backed off and stabbed the hand with my spear with it having no time, nor intention, of moving out of the way. The hand collapsed onto the ground and reformed with the main body of liquid but it left an ore behind. These ores acted like brains and with two brains the puddle was able to focus on keeping itself together and presumably avoiding attacks on the main body while the other attacked me.


    I couldn¡¯t help but imagine how things would be with thirty enemies, all combined into one. It would be far more terrifying than thirty individual enemies as I could fight those one at a time. All it had to do was act a bit more defensively with the ores on the other side until I¡¯m within range to be attacked and I would be completely helpless. On the other hand, such an enemy would be intimidating yet easy to beat if it attacked like this, providing easy to exploit vulnerabilities as it attacked.


    The other brain, ore or whatever I could call it was found without much trouble. I just waved my spear around looking for a section that moved a bit slower then stabbed it. Same as the previous rooms except a larger puddle to sift through. Before heading off to room eight I had to consider something. Since the hand formed by the puddle was offensive and didn¡¯t move to dodge, perhaps using the dark dagger was more appropriate. The best case scenario was the dark dagger killing the entirety of the puddle no matter how many ores lied in it. It would speed things up as I¡¯d no longer have to individually off them and it would be much safer.


    Not just safer, but easier to the point where I would be able to go farther into the dungeon than I ever have before. It¡¯d be as if I was facing only one opponent on every floor rather than it increasing every so often at first then consistently with every room. I could even reach the end of the dungeon if there was an end. That¡¯s something I should ask the others after I got back. More likely, if I tried to get to the end, at some point the puddle would act differently or an element version of it would appear and then chase me off or kill me.

 Chapter 30: Armed Puddle

    In the eight room, I found another arm made from the liquid and used the dark dagger rather than the spear to test my theory. I had to get up and close to the arm with its short range and almost got grabbed by the arm as the dagger pierced into the ore. In an instant, the liquid forming the arm and even a portion of the puddle dried up but didn¡¯t fully dissipate. An interesting effect that would surely be useful on later floors if the puddle continued to get larger. However, in my current situation, it was safer and more reasonable to just use the spear.


    Keeping an arm at hand¡¯s reach was just playing into its strengths. Like that, I defeated the puddle in room nine and reached the tenth floor. Just as I had expected, the puddle was slightly larger with a second arm reaching for me along with the first towards me at the same time. I swiped the spear to the side, aiming just to hit the hands, even if not with the blade. The first hand was struck by the side of the spearhead and collapsed while the second hand was bashed by the shaft, sending the ores and dissipating water off to the side.


    Then, I sifted through the puddle and took out the last enemy, if I were to treat them like separate beings rather than one combined entity. With that, I now had thirteen ores in my bag and it was already starting to get a little heavy. Not heavy enough to go back as with the markets current condition I¡¯d be lucky to get one silver for this amount. Unless of course there were some shopkeepers late to restocking or another merchant came through.


    The tenth room contained a bit of a surprise. A sword, similar to the ones the skeletons had held in the dungeon I found the necklace in. Somehow one of the arms of the puddle was holding that sword and there were only two arms. Not only that, but the puddle wasn¡¯t larger than the one in the previous room. If this puddle started spewing flames or glaring at me with glowing eyes, I would be in deep trouble. However, it appeared to be the same as before other than the sword.


    When I approached it and swung my spear at it, it raised the sword to guard against my strike. This was even worse than attacking me with it as the shaft of the spear was wood. It didn¡¯t break as it hit the sword, but the blade cut into it, creating a ridge where the spear might one day snap off upon hitting something, rendering the spear almost worthless for resale and only usable for a few more dungeon runs.


    My spear was stuck and I couldn¡¯t pull it back. The puddle¡¯s sword was stuck in the shaft and I couldn¡¯t get it off. Pulling would make the damage even worse and pushing to the left wasn¡¯t doing much. Surprisingly enough, the hand, despite falling apart with the tiniest hit in the previous rooms, had quite a bit of strength and kept a vice grip on the sword. Meanwhile, the other hand started to approach me, forcing me to unsheathe my sword with my left hand awkwardly while straining my right to keep myself from losing the spear.


    At this moment, I was sorta wishing I hadn¡¯t sold that spear to the merchant. Even though it was shoddy and broken, it would have been better in this situation than the sword as it had more reach. I could have freed my spear by striking the hand holding my spear hostage with the sword then taken out the other hand within a few seconds. Instead, I swung around my sword wildly at the other hand as it came closer, hoping that I would hit it as soon as it came into range.


    The damn thing grabbed my sword instead of blindly moving into my blade, gripping the sides so it wouldn¡¯t be cut. The flames seemed to do nothing to stop the hand from touching the blade just as they did nothing to damage the puddle when I tested it in the first room. As a result, I was stuck with no way to properly retaliate nor could I let go. I had no other weapons with a good reach and these hands were acting way more intelligent than they had in the previous rooms.


    If I let go of my spear, that would clear the way for the hand with the sword to get up close and stab me. If I let go of my sword, I would be faced with two sword-wielding hands rather than just one, with one of the swords being on fire. In that stalemate, I waited for an opportunity to wrest free one of my weapons to counterattack. Instead of any openings, the puddle itself started to slink towards me, touching my feet and surrounding me. Things were getting bad fast but if I thought about it, was this not the opportunity I was looking for?


    There was a third ore acting as a core for the puddle. Without that, the puddle would become much weaker and I''d get the upper hand in this fight. I moved my feet the best I could without losing my balance or weapons. The ore was somewhere just beneath my feet and if I found out where I would stomp on it. Eventually, I found an area that was slowly avoiding my feet just out of reach. My legs couldn''t reach it and it stayed there, ignoring any attempts to push it towards me or around the edge to a spot where I could.


    My hands started to shake from the exertion of keeping the hands at bay while moving my feet as far out as I could. It was at a point of no return now so I let go of both my weapons and immediately jumped on the ore. I managed to land on it and watched the puddle below me start to disappear as I slid on the ore, slamming onto the ground hard. The impact was mostly on my back so I didn''t hurt my head but it knocked the breath right out of my body.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Before I could even register the impact or feel the pain, I was getting back up to face the two remaining hands only to find them gone. There was nothing but my weapons and the sword that the hand had still lodged in my spear. The ore within the puddle acting like the main body for the hands was all I needed to defeat the enemy. It seemed like it really was one monster that could be defeated entirely by hitting a weak point. However, there were no ores dropped.


    The sword was dropped so I wasn''t sure if the ores didn''t drop because the sword did or because of the way I defeated it. It didn''t matter. All that mattered was that I was tired and hurt. My body pretty much collapsed as I started breathing heavily, trying to recover. Even though I hadn''t been cut or majorly injured, it felt that way with the strain I had gone through.


    I laid down and rested for a bit while letting out a good long laugh. Not only had I made it out of that desperate situation alive and intact, but I had also gotten a sword out of it rather than those shitty ores. It would be even better if it was enchanted but a sword alone was worth maybe two to three silvers. Basically, it was worth more than all the ores in my bag.


    After catching my breath I started putting all my things away while staying seated. I could have thrown the sword in the bag with the ores since the bag was quite tough, but I decided to strap it to my back with the spear in case I needed to use it. Separated from the puddle''s hands, it took only a second to pull it off the spear and inspect the damage.It wasn''t as deep as I expected it to be, cutting only a fourth of the way through the shaft. Only a tiny sliver some would say but since it was so close to the end of the spear, it could easily snap and break the next time I hit something hard with it.


    It wasn¡¯t something I could really use as a weapon anymore, unfortunately. As soon as I start to make some money, something bad crops up. We came to the city not only to escape the knights but also make a name for ourselves, make money, and hopefully get the opportunity to find more items with enchantments or divine blessings. Nothing was going to plan, except maybe the money part. More or less, I was starting to turn a profit from these dungeon runs.


    There was just a whole new level of pressure with the fee to enter. Before I could go into the dungeon for hours on end without worry, even if I wasn¡¯t grinding, then come out at the crack of dawn and know that I had a place to eat and sleep. If the dungeon wasn¡¯t right, I could leave after trying things out then immediately re-enter and try again. Then the ores, while rarer, could be traded for a silver or two on their own, making it just far more convenient to run the dungeon. I could see why only one dungeon was open to the public despite there being three in the city.


    After a bit of rest, I picked myself up and headed out of the dungeon. There was no way I would go any farther or enter the dungeon again today. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after but not today. Perhaps tonight after the last hour which is technically the next day but preferably after a good meal, drink, and sleep. The bag I brought with me was heavy but less so than when it was carrying the body of the dog beast. There were more ores than then so perhaps the fire gem had more weight to it than I thought. The gem was currently resting in my shirt, tucked into my pants partially like the dark dagger.


    With the way I carried the dagger, I was surprised I had not cut myself upon its blade yet especially with how I had been thrown about. It really needed a sheath and while I was at that, a new spear and clothes. All those expenses and barely any profit. Dealing with myself alone was a money pit, not even talking about this startup knight order I was forming.


    The worst part is that I still didn¡¯t know when I¡¯d do enough to have my liver healed. My quest was to form a knight order and one was formed, if not a big ragtag with me being the biggest rag of them all. At what point would my quest end? When there was enough of us to be considered a worthy force, when all of us bore a divine item of our own, or did we have to be acknowledged by others as a proper knight order? I felt the urge to find a nearby temple and ask the goddess what I had to do. Surely there was one inside the city that I simply had not found yet.


    On the outside of the dungeon, I headed back towards the inn to drop off my rewards from this trip until the prices would go back up. For now, I looked around and saw Jerry¡¯s prediction of the prices going way lower than usual to be right on the mark and even if there was a shopkeep coming late, they could easily just buy their stock from a neighbor without much of a loss.


    Back at the room rented at the inn, I dropped off the bag with the ores on the bed and set the sword off to the side of the bed. Stephen reached out to take back the shield and his leg was coming quite close to being fully healed. His stub had regrown to his knee and already something looking like a small foot was starting to form. Alas, I refused him and explained that I needed it for but an hour longer to consult the goddess. He understood and started ruffling through the bag and finding spots to place the ores where they wouldn¡¯t get in the way of our sleep.


    Jerry and Matt were still in the dungeon or perhaps back in the queue waiting for another try after a bad attempt. I didn¡¯t look around too much when I left the dungeon, not caring what the guards or crowd thought about my appearance. It didn¡¯t take long to find the temple. At first, I asked some of the people in the alley at the inn but they just glared at me when I tried to talk with them. However, the merchants back at the food markets were more than happy to direct me towards the temple after I bought another tomato to eat on the way.

 Chapter 31: Intermission

    The temple in the city was far more luxurious than the temple back in town. It was triple the size and had multiple stories. I managed to spot it a few blocks away and was able to push through the crowd to it. Like the district full of smithies, the general area around the temple wasn¡¯t as crowded as the main streets. However, there were far more people, both believers of various gods and knight orders loitering around the street or the entrance.


    The foundations of the building and the steps leading up to it were made of marble or perhaps granite. It was white with natural designs and streaks that made it quite pleasing to the eyes unlike the normal stone lining the streets. The building itself was made of a light grey stone that had been smoothed to make the proportions on everything even. In the front was a wide building entrance that was about three stories high with spires climbing up to the levels where a five or six story building would be. A few supporting flying buttresses lined the sides and the space between it and the next buildings over could fit at least three more buildings, leading to very wide roads.


    It felt strange to enter such an intimidating building. As if I didn¡¯t belong there, a silent pressure kept my feet stuck to the ground as I stared on just outside the hustle and bustle of the street crowds. Eventually, I walked inside and found myself greeted by one of the caretakers for the temple. I wasn¡¯t sure if he was a priest, assistant priest, or someone employed by the temple to take care of the bulk of visitors that don¡¯t need the attention of a full-on priest. Whatever he was, he was dressed similar to Jeoffry and brought a bowl with some coins resting in it, a place to put donations.


    Since I was using the temple, it would be best to give them a small offering. I doubt they¡¯d let me use the place for free even with a divine item considering all the knight orders in this city. All I had was silver so I placed a single silver coin in the offering cup and saw the man carrying the cup scowl at me before turning away and walking deeper into the temple. Apparently, he expected more from me but it was enough to grant me entrance as no one stopped me from going inside. A part of me thought that maybe the scowl was from my clothes or they let me in with just one silver because I looked like someone without any more cash from the state of my clothes.


    The only part of the building that was cordoned off was the spires, the rest of the space was wide open. I could look up and see an unusually high roof with a mural painted on it. All sorts of people or perhaps renditions of gods and goddesses painted the ceiling. It was somewhat hard to make out the details at this distance but the image as a whole was impressive. There was some serious money going into this fancy temple. If a small trading city had such a nice temple, I could only imagine how great the one in the capital was. I could imagine foundations of gold and walls made of silver, if only a coating of it with something stronger beneath like steel or stone but still luxurious.


    There were several lines of benches leading towards the other end of the temple with some knight orders and believers seated and praying to their divine of choice. Most of them congregated towards the other end of the building where a line of statues of some of the more major divines sat in a circular shape and a pedestal with a priest was, also deeply in prayer like the believers. I took a seat towards the back, away from all that as I only needed to be here with a divine item to make a connection.Stolen story; please report.


    Three rows from the back on the right to be exact as I wasn¡¯t the only person with this idea and the two rows in the back were already filled with people, mostly knights but there was an odd believer or two as well. Then again, I probably looked more like believer if not a beggar in the eyes of the others here. If not for the fact I would have to wait an undetermined amount of time, I would have gone back and brought Jerry or even Stephen so I wasn¡¯t doing this alone. Then again, it¡¯d be awkward with Stephen learning how I disliked him before especially with how I was pretty sure he had a good opinion of me at this point.


    I focused on the shield before me and entered another state of consciousness that I had only experienced a few times. Time passed and I communicated my lack of direction and uneasiness with the goddess. She listened to all of my complaints or more accurately, knew of them as soon as I entered this state of being. As did I understand all of the answers to my questions more or less.


    To be recognized as a proper knight order and receive the benefit of a renewed liver, I had to have at least seven members equipped with a divine item, be acknowledged by either one hundred people or two knight orders, and then head to the temple in the capital to be officially sanctioned. My progress towards this end is two members, it would be three if we had another divine item to spare, and we¡¯ve been acknowledged by six people to be a proper knight order. Most likely those six came from Jeff, Tom, Jeoffry, and some of Matt¡¯s family. Matt himself probably counted towards that six.


    Being recognized by normal people could be easily achieved by changing my and the others appearances to be more in line with the image of knights or communicating with others. So we were basically halfway towards my goal and it had been only a little over a week since I had started, making good progress. There wasn¡¯t anything else left to do here except head back towards the inn.


    Back at the room, I reunited with Stephen and passed the shield back to him and then we sat in silence until the others got back. I relaxed on the edge of the bed, looking around at all the sides of the bed where ores had been shoved into every opening. The sword I had found was now resting on the bed instead of sitting on my back. My plan for it was to sell it tomorrow as I had to go towards the smithy district anyways but I thought it¡¯d be best to wait in case Matt or Jerry needed another weapon due to circumstances.


    Around an hour or two later, the others got back with even more ores and two swords similar to the one I got. Like me, they had managed to get this rare sword to drop from the body of some monster. They had both gotten lucky with dungeons populated with weak and easy to handle monsters. At some point, they had gotten some bags similar to mine, but a bit smaller and filled them to the brim with ores, essentially tripling the number of ores in this tiny room and leaving little space for us to actually sleep here.


    Thankfully, there was enough space since I slept on the ground, leaning on the foot of the bed rather than on it or we¡¯d be forced to sell off some of the ores at a bad price just to sleep. With our money situation, I thought that Jerry would rather sleep on the ores than ditch them at this point though. They brought back another set of meals for everyone when they came back.


    We all had a share of food and then went to sleep early that day with nothing else to really do other than grab a drink or two of beer. The dungeon had been explored, twice by myself, and we had come out of it with what will become a tidy profit after prices normalize. Stephen seemed to be on the verge of growing his leg back enough to move on his own and possibly start doing dungeon runs or at least some walks outside the room. Tomorrow we would wake up early and hopefully have as much success if not more than we had this day.

 Chapter 32: Private Dungeon

    I awoke just before dawn and stepped outside. It was still pitch dark outside. All the others were still asleep so I left the shield with Stephen rather than waking him or the others up. My plan for the day was to spend the last silver coin I had on hand for breakfast, preferably enough food for the others as well, and then visit the smithy from before to see if they sold the dog beast yet. I was promised more money after all even though I would have accepted the four silver in an instant.


    The only pity was that I had no money to purchase clothes if I grabbed something to eat. If I bought clothes and then the trade wasn¡¯t done then I wouldn¡¯t have any money for food or even entering the dungeon, forcing me to wait until the others got up to ask for money. Unless I sold the swords I got but those were back in the room and we planned on selling all the swords together later on. Money management was hard at times and it just didn¡¯t feel right constantly using the group¡¯s funds.


    Sure, I had helped build up some of those funds and had every right as the captain to take some of it. However, I preferred to have my own personal funds that I could do as I wish with while contributing some of my dungeon finds to the group. As soon as I started putting all my money into the group while taking out cash for personal things, it¡¯d feel more like my own personal bank than money going towards making us a proper knight order.


    As I walked through the streets, I noticed that there were fewer people but it was just as cramped. The fact that it was still dark out did nothing to discourage early risers from going about their day. There were many carriages going back and forth on the streets, making things even more cramped than during the day at times. They brought all sorts of goods to and from the city and when I arrived in the food markets I found several of these carriages unloading fresh produce, bread, meat, and other products to the stands. As for the people who made the cheap stews and such, they hadn¡¯t even started cooking. I recognized some of them, walking around to stands that had just restocked and picking up their old inventory at a hefty discount no matter the condition they were in.


    It was tempting to do the same as them, buy up a huge amount of food about to go bad with my silver coin and lug it back to the room as a quick detour. And that was exactly what I did. No matter how much of a big deal I made about clothes, entering the dungeon, and responsible money usage, this was too good to pass up. The others would not fault me for asking for a coin when they woke up if they woke up to enough food to last them the entire day and perhaps tomorrow.


    One of the larger stands, which was a wholesaler, seeming to sell everything that could be found at a slightly higher price, the cost of convenience, was in the process of ditching bad stock and seemed the best place to buy from. If I spent a silver coin at a tomato stand, all I¡¯d get is a huge amount of tomatoes, no balance whatsoever. I like tomatoes, but not enough to chomp down on ten of them and call that the meal for the day. There was one of the people running a stew already there buying up some miscellaneous things, a few potatoes, a loaf of stale bread, some meat that was more grit than cut, and what not before moving on. There was plenty more there and they only took what they needed, paying in exact change with the local currency, not even bothering to take out a silver.


    The local currency could not be used to pay taxes and fluctuated constantly so someone like me from the countryside distrusted its use immensely and preferred silver transactions only. However, it would be worth it in the city to have some for smaller purchases or haggling for even a slightly better price. Not at that moment, as I decided to just show the food salesmen the silver coin and asked for whatever I could get for it. He more than happily took the coin and loaded me up with as much food as I could carry, even throwing in a bag to carry it for free.


    For sure, I came out at a loss compared to the salesmen, but it was better than the deals we normally got and more cost-effective than the stews and soups or something found in a restaurant. Hell, our group didn¡¯t even know where the local tavern was in this city despite practically living in it back in town, mostly thanks to me finding that barrel of beer. Sometime I should check that out in case they were selling anything nice once I had the leeway to spend a bit.


    With all this stuff in my arms, I couldn¡¯t head to the smithy district anymore and headed back to the inn. There, I was forced to knock on the door and wake the others up to get inside and drop off the food. Only Matt and Stephen got up with the former opening the door and helping organize some of the food in the room. Jerry stayed in a deep sleep so I couldn¡¯t ask him for any cash and soon enough I was off again with a couple strips of gritty beef jerky to fill my stomach until later.


    Back at the smithy district, I once again entered the luxurious shop that I sold the dog corpse to with a bit of embarrassment. Sure, I had business here and managed to sell something, but wearing rags in such a high-class place was admittedly unnerving, especially since I could have used that silver to get some better clothes but chose food instead. Food is more important than clothes for sure but if all went well I would have money for food by now. Oh well, not like I could have afforded nice clothes in the first place so there wouldn¡¯t be any change in reception.


    Like last time, there were no other customers, just the old man watching over the shop. I assumed he was either the owner or managed it for some rich guy elsewhere. One new thing was the dog beast¡¯s skull all cleaned up and sitting on a shelf. The black substance on its surface was polished off, leaving behind a metallic sheen. Going off the fact it was still here, I assumed it hadn¡¯t sold yet.


    ¡°You¡¯re back and I see you haven¡¯t bothered cleaning up at all. If I give you another advance, will you promise to wear something better and bathe before you come back?¡± asked the old man.


    I understood the clothing part but bathing? I¡¯ve already bathed this month so it should be fine but I suppose washing weekly or perhaps even daily might be the norm for wealthier people. Unless there was someplace I could bathe inside the city, I might have to leave and find a spot of water outside the walls. However, I didn¡¯t see any water close to the city so I might have to exit the city on the other side from where I came in to find some. Best to ask around later.


    ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll make sure to do so,¡± I said. Another advance would be welcome because it would give me the cash to make a quick stop in the dungeon on the way back if it¡¯s not too busy and dropped back to a two silver entrance fee.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    As for getting new clothes, I suppose I could do that if I got more than one silver in this advance. Which it turns out, I did, as the old man laid five silver on the counter for me to take. I took the coins and left. The old man seemed happy about me not sticking around to chat and there was nothing more to say since the dog hadn¡¯t sold yet.


    On my way back, I noticed that the lines to the dungeon wasn¡¯t too bad but decided it was best to go back to the inn to fetch my shield and eat a meal. Nothing was worse than being stuck in the dungeon while hungry or sober for that matter as I also drank a brew of beer. By this time the others had fully awakened, most likely due to my interruption sadly, other than Jerry who was still out cold. Matt discussed going back into the dungeon again after selling off some of the ores with me over breakfast but decided to wait until Jerry got up. I pushed the job of selling the ores off to them and headed out alone again.


    Nonetheless, it didn¡¯t turn out to be a usual wait in line then enter the dungeon kind of day as a group of seven approached the line off to the side rather than getting behind. Were they trying to cut in line or something else? They looked to be a mismatch of adventurers and knights with mixed weapons and armors that prioritized quality over fashion. In comparison, a knight group often had matching equipment and the symbol of their divine out in the open on one such armor or weapon. These people did not belong to a knight order but were obviously in some sort of group. A group that was well respected from the reactions of the other people in the line.


    Everyone in the line and even a few people in the streets rushed over and faced the group, not speaking a single word, silently waiting for the group to say their part. I was swept into this rush and chose to keep my mouth shut as well out of curiosity. The fact that even full plate armor knights with divine items were quietly waiting just next to me signaled just how big of a deal this was.


    ¡°Everyone, we have a device that can cause an artificial convergence for nine people. If your little brain can do math and you can see, we are seven members, two down. That means this is a chance for two of you to join us. Unfortunately, every person that enters a dungeon in a convergence increases the difficulty of each room, meaning we can¡¯t just have any person. We need two quality members. Please step forward if you have been in a convergence before,¡± stated one of the seven, a woman donning a silver chestplate and thick leather covering with rest of her body with a rapier at her side and a halberd on her back.


    She probably meant people who have been in artificial convergences but surely a natural convergence was more of a milestone and it¡¯d be interesting entering a dungeon in such a large group. So I took a step forward out of the crowd alongside maybe ten other people, mostly knights and a couple odd adventurer types like me. I imagined that two of the knights were the most likely to get these spots. They looked to be the most reliable out of this bunch and even I wouldn¡¯t chose myself off appearance alone if I was on the other side.


    ¡°Ten? Well this is unexpected but welcome. We¡¯re going to have to narrow things down a bit more. Who here has an elemental or divine item, preferably one that can be used offensively,¡± said the woman as she walked past each of us, looking into each of our eyes, including mine. Her eyes betrayed no emotion and she didn¡¯t even react to my appearance. Perhaps just having the chance to be in a convergence was enough to garner respect regardless of outer appearance.


    With this new condition, a few of the knights stepped away and so did one of the other adventurers. I, of course, had multiple elemental items and even a divine one and stayed up. Meanwhile, most of the knights had divine items to no one¡¯s surprise. Not counting me, the most surprising part was that the other person dressed who was more of an adventurer, dressed in simple leather armor, also had a divine or elemental weapon.


    ¡°Fine. Who here has made it far enough to reach a rest area on their own?¡± asked the woman, surprised that she had to even narrow it down this far it seemed as she was becoming more blunt.


    The other adventurer and all the knights but two stepped down, leaving three standing in front including me. I was surprised that reaching the rest area on my own narrowed things down more than having an elemental weapon. Most likely those knights had made it to the rest area using artificial convergences only as I seriously doubted they lacked the skills to get that far. The two knights next to me seemed to be a part of the same order and glared at me.


    ¡°Hey, step down already. Didn¡¯t you hear when she said that the divine item is preferably an offensive one? What are you going to do with that shield?¡± asked one of them while pointing at my divine item. Having both their members in this group would be preferable to only one so they of course wanted me gone even before the group stated the next thing to narrow things down. Too bad they focused on my shield and brought up a losing argument. Simply by pulling out my sword and showing it catch alight with flames was enough to shut them up.


    Before they could say anything else, the woman spoke up again, ¡°Stay in line if you¡¯ve fought and won against a unique monster before.¡±


    Like that, one of the knights was forced to step down and it was just me and the remaining knight who happened to also be the one that questioned my shield. I sheathed my sword and turned to face the group of seven, ignoring the knight beside me¡¯s glare as I cost his order a spot in this group. They didn¡¯t stay here nor explained anything, they just started walking away from the dungeon. For a second I was confused, but then followed along while remembering that there were two more private dungeons in the city. No wonder everyone wanted to be a part of this group as they could avoid the entrance fee and enjoy the safety of the group.


    Or lack of safety as the dungeon¡¯s difficulty would ramp up with nine people. If anything, we could just re-enter the dungeon until we face an easy enemy or I could rely on the others if things go awry. One of the private dungeons in the city wasn¡¯t too far from the public one. I thought it¡¯d be farther out, with dungeon entrances a bit more spaced out, but it was at the end of a side street two buildings away from the public dungeon. The street was relatively empty but well guarded with armed men standing off to the sides every so often, none of them being guards, all adventurers or knights.


    The actual dungeon was inside of a building that might as well be a small fortress with thick stone walls and a metal gate. Once inside, the gate closed behind us and the group of seven finally explained how things were going to go. They went on for what felt like an hour saying the same things over and over so I barely paid any attention. The important bits was that we only had one shot at this and couldn¡¯t exit the dungeon, planned to reach at least the rest area before turning back, and that as guests, the knight and I had to stay in the front and do the brunt of the fighting.


    The last part seemed to put the knight a bit on edge and he asked if they would support them at all. For me, it wasn¡¯t anything new throwing myself up and close to the monsters, if not with a bit of caution with my spear until I knew what they were capable of. The knight was simply told that they would support us if they deemed it necessary then took out the item used to cause the artificial convergence, unwilling to talk things out anymore. What a relief thought the knight probably didn¡¯t take that too well as he eyed the closed gate leading outside.

 Chapter 33: Two-Man Raid

    The portal to the dungeon distorted and rippled as the item influenced it and the woman who spoke to us earlier took the lead. Out of the group of nine now, she was one of two females. Which was somewhat rare as I had noticed most adventurers and knights were male. Heck, I had barely seen any females in the city at all. It truly was a city mostly focused on military and the dungeons within. Surprising that it wasn¡¯t more well balanced with the trade routes going through it.


    Before long, we had all entered the dungeon and I was the last to go through. I raised my guard, expecting a fight as soon as I had walked through the portal but instead found all the monsters already dead. So much for fighting in the front if the others go ahead and kill everything before I was even in the room. Then again, it gave me a chance to observe the monsters without them trying to kill me or worse, keeping their distance and acting suspiciously or not at all.


    It resembled a bird in its overall body shape, head, and legs, but instead of feathers, fur adorned its body and it had arms with claws at the end rather than wings. There were around ten bodies scattered across the ground, most of them missing a few limbs, sporting new holes in their chests, or had their heads bashed in. The group as a whole took out these monsters without taking into account the rough plan we had before going in.


    As for the room itself, it was spacious enough to fit two or three one-story buildings inside and had plenty of space for all nine of us to move around. The ground and walls were a greyish color that had somewhat of a metallic sheen to it while the temperature was the same as outside. Unlike past dungeons which felt like I was underground or in some foreign, alien place, this place had the unnerving aspect of feeling manmade, as if I was simply in the basement of the fortress rather than in a dungeon. The floor and walls were smooth and in a perfectly rectangular shape as opposed to the more circular or maze-like structure of rooms in past dungeons.


    None of the dead monsters dropped an item in stark comparison to the almost constant loot in the public dungeon. For all I knew, this dungeon had a completely different ore than what was normally traded around. If so, why hadn¡¯t I seen this other ore being traded around in the markets?


    ¡°Took you two long enough, you were supposed to be the vanguard yet your reluctance to go through forced us to take out all the monsters. If this goes on like this, you won¡¯t get anything out of this trip,¡± said one of the members, a guy leaning on a spear piercing through the head of one of the monsters.


    They just entered the dungeon without letting us know that we should have gone ahead. I¡¯m not psychic and I hoped the knight beside me wasn¡¯t. At this point in time, I started to regret coming along on this trip as it seemed like it was going to be a hassle. The knight beside me simply kept his head down when this guy berated us, inspected one of the dead bodies then moved to the next room. Since he didn¡¯t bother saying anything, I held back my complaints and followed.


    In the next room, the knight and I were instantly assaulted by the strange creatures from the previous room. They rushed towards us with their arms flailing about. It would look ridiculous if not for the fact that a single swipe of their claws could tear chunks of my flesh with ease. Thankfully, their swinging arms were purely offensive, leaving a large gap in the center of their body for me to pull my spear from my back and stab it. The spearhead pierced its body and thrust out the other side, pushing the body of the beast uncomfortably close to me. If not for the fact that it almost instantly died and stopped attacking, I would have been at serious risk of being hurt.


    The knight, on the other hand, pulled a knife from his waist and threw it at one of the oncoming creatures, lodging itself firmly into its head and dispatching the monster without trouble. Then he pulled out a sword with the symbol of a divine upon it to meet the charge of another monster. As one was also coming towards me, I was forced to pay attention to my own manners.


    My spear was stuck, or rather the furry bird thing was on my spear and I couldn¡¯t get it off. It¡¯d take some effort to pull it out considering how far the spear had gone through it. As the next monster approached, I had the choice of ditching the spear for my sword or continuing to use it. Surprisingly enough, the monster was very light so I could still move my spear with its corpse skewered on it. With that in mind, I shifted the spear to the side and skewered the next monster and then another. Before I knew it, I had these birds covering the entire length of the spear, four of them in total, making it impossible to use the spear further.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    I reached for my sword to continue the fight only to realize the rest were already dead, felled by the knight in close combat. He had accrued a few wounds, mostly new scratches upon his armor and a cut on his face, but he had killed six of the beasts in the timespan it had taken me to kill three. Then again, he wore armor and could afford to fight more recklessly, attracting the ire of the beasts and allowing him to dispatch more of them faster.


    One of the beasts he had killed formed into a shiny metallic ore, looking far more valuable and useful than the blackish ore of the public dungeon. Before the knight could even touch it, the rest of the group crossed through the portal and observed the situation without any change in expression. It¡¯d be nice if they could complement us on our performance but it seemed like we did as expected.


    ¡°Pass that silver ore over to us and retrieve your weapons. We¡¯ve got more rooms to cover today and until we recoup our costs, you won¡¯t get a single coin or ore for yourself,¡± stated the woman who had listed off the requirements for joining the group earlier, as harsh and blunt as ever.


    The knight willingly tossed the silver over to the others, one of whom caught it and slipped it into a small drawbag hanging off a belt. Silver ore was valuable enough to be used for coinage and was one of the metals that backed pretty much every currency in the surrounding countries. Its value could not be underestimated and I¡¯d love to get my hands on some. All of it was going straight into the group who brought us here¡¯s pockets and depending on how this trip goes, I might not get anything out of it.


    A few minutes later, I had pulled the corpses off the spear and cleaned most of the blood and gore off it. No point in being thorough as it would just get messy again in the next room. I wondered how much it would cost for this group to recoup their expenses and let us keep some of the ore. Rather than expensive, I felt like the private dungeons were only used by a select few with connections to the owners or were the owners. However, if they did rent out the dungeon then it must¡¯ve been quite costly since this place drops silver. A single silver ore could be smelted down and used to make a bunch of silver coins. However, only nobles could mint coinage from valuable metals so the ore isn¡¯t worth as much as its weight in coin even after taking out the impurities.


    Whatever would happen, I hoped that the group could at least make it to the rest area so I could get some new alcohol as I had but a mouthful of wine left and the beer cask back at the inn wouldn¡¯t last forever. The third room was much the same as the second but more monsters. With the knight charging ahead like before, I was able to take on the beasts pretty much one by one despite their numbers. Before long, I had my spear completely covered in beasts and drew my sword which drew the attention of the rest of the monsters in the room.


    The fire coming from my sword aggravated the monsters far more than the knight''s reckless charge and I found myself surrounded by six to eight of them, desperately swinging my blade all around. Every time I swung my sword I cut one of the beasts down, either from the blade cleaving their body and slashing open their veins, or the flame spreading to cover their fur and scorching every inch. In retaliation, they scratched my exposed back, bit my tender legs, and even aimed for the hand holding my sword.


    In the end, the knight came over and helped me fend off the last few beasts and we were surrounded by anywhere from twenty to thirty bodies, not one of them dropping anything and we both had wounds. Even the knight¡¯s plate mail couldn¡¯t hold out and he had scratches everywhere, but nowhere near my injuries where parts of my flesh were gouged out. Luckily, none of my vitals got hit and the knight helped patch up my wounds with some bandages as the shield got to work stopping the bleeding.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that you¡¯re willing to patch me up after I stole your friend¡¯s spot,¡± I said to the knight as he wrapped a bandage around my body to cover a nasty bite to my ass.


    ¡°Only a fool would be so petty as to not help a comrade in the dungeon even if there¡¯s a bit of history. Right now we¡¯re basically a two-man group fighting deep in the dungeon as the others won¡¯t help until much later unless we die. If you die, it becomes a solo suicide mission so it¡¯s in my best interest to keep you alive. I still dislike you and feel free to dislike me, but for now, let¡¯s have a truce,¡± said the knight.


    Right as he finished speaking, the rest of the group came through the portal and looked around the room. They ignored our wounds and inspected the dead bodies and the room around them. They were likely counting the bodies to make sure we didn¡¯t take any silver ore for ourselves.


    ¡°No ore this time? Well, keep moving. No time to waste as we¡¯d like to get to a place where we can stretch our muscles before the day is out,¡± said one of them.


    The knight was right, this was a two-man raid with all the benefits going to those doing nothing. They had absolutely no intention of helping us and were even rushing us to go faster. Then again, they did pay the entry fee so it¡¯s not like I have any right to complain. If anything, leaving the dungeon is still technically an option if things go South.

 Chapter 34: Names

    The next room, the fourth, opened up much wider than the previous room. It seems not only was an artificial convergence different from the first floor, but it escalated in size and difficulty much faster too. Like the previous dungeons, I had entered when it opened up into larger areas I could barely call a room anymore, the monsters were more scattered about and it was actually easier than the previous room to fight. There were more monsters, but we fought less at a time. Though, with how aggressive the beasts were, we had not even a moment¡¯s rest in the fight.


    I had to ditch the spear after a few attacks and fight using the flame sword and even the shield. When a sword slash failed to connect or when two or more attacked me at once, a bash to the head with the shield was just as effective at killing them. Not as effective as if they were undead, but few living beings could be unphased after a blunt hit to the head. Whichever ones didn¡¯t die from the impact were finished off with my sword as soon as I got a few seconds respite from the others.


    The knight continued to fight quite dangerously until one particularly nasty bird-beast managed to tear the breastplate from his body, opening his vitals up to attacks. Ever since then, he kept close to me, using me as a distraction and bait when he got too many monsters surrounding him to defend himself. It sounded bad as if he was pushing all the work onto me, but in reality, only so many monsters could attack me without getting in each other¡¯s way and he would step in and kill some of them from the sides. Overall, it was actually easier when he used me as a human shield strangely enough.


    This continued throughout the next few floors up until room eight. By then, the knight had discovered how fast my wounds healed and lost any sort of hesitation, instantly standing by my side and cutting down everything that got close while ducking behind me as things got crazy. Thanks to that, he suffered only a few wounds while I got chewed all over by the fangs and claws of the monsters. Then again, after some downtime to collect the odd silver ore and clean our weapons, most of my wounds healed to the point where the knight was actually worse off than me. Hiding behind me didn¡¯t make him immune to the occasional scratch and they accumulated, not healing, and would possibly get infected even with proper treatment.


    On the eighth floor, the group as a whole decided to take a short break. In other words, the knight and I could rest while the seven freeloaders who had done nothing at all decided to eat a snack and even brought out some alcohol to enjoy. To them, this was nothing but a friendly outing and judging by how fast the first room had been cleared, they would still be this casual even if we weren¡¯t here.


    I was torn between swearing at them for forcing all the work onto us and trying to convince myself I should actually be grateful to them. It was like someone offering me a drink but only after I pour them a glass and in the end, I might not even get a drink. There was something humiliating about this whole situation wholly due to their attitudes.


    "Soon we''ll reach floors where it''s possible to enter a rest area. The only thing consistent between a normal dungeon run and one with an artificial convergence. The amount of silver we''ve acquired from the dungeon just barely covers our entry fee so from now on you''ll get a small cut of every ore found as long as you''re able to clear the rooms on your own. At any time you can ask for our help but after that, you relinquish any rewards from said room. The exception being special rooms with one elemental enemy where we''ll take over the fight and keep the item that drops, understood?" said the woman who had originally narrowed down the crowd to the two of us.


    "Yes," answered the knight immediately. They were good terms for him since he was quite injured and at some point in this dungeon, there would be too many enemies for him to fight even using me as a distraction.


    As for me, I didn''t respond immediately. I agreed to the terms mentally but pretended to think about it for a few seconds. It was my way of getting back at them for how annoying they''ve been so far. Admittedly, it was petty and likely something they wouldn''t even notice, but it brought me some light satisfaction and that was all that mattered. The little things I could do to vent without letting them notice and possibly penalizing me in some way.


    "I''m okay with that," I finally said.


    "Scratch that for the next floor, I need to stretch my legs after a snack. You two can do whatever you want room ten and up but I''m taking room nine," stated one of the seven, a man wielding a steel pole and a reinforced club.


    He rushed through the portal to the next room before anyone could react. The other six simply waved us on, telling us to go onto the next floor for now. There, we found the man who rushed ahead standing over twenty or so bodies, a massacre of the beasts. Every single body, without exception, had a dent in the head with blood and gore spilling everywhere. The man himself was holding one of the monsters up in the air by its neck while bashing another with his club. Brute strength combined with blunt weapons lead to him dispatching the monsters that had given us so much trouble with ease.


    At one point he even ditched the club of his own accord and started smashing them with his bare hands, starting by crushing the skull of the one still held up by its neck just by squeezing his hands into a fist while still holding it. It reminded me of the times I was forced to kill monsters by stomping on their heads but he did so willingly while my cases of doing this were more situational. At times, I needed to stomp a monsters head in as hesitating could kill me and I preferred to use a weapon, but this man reveled in the feeling of killing without weapons.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    After clearing out the room singlehandedly, he introduced himself while holding the last bird monster which he excessively tore in half, ¡°Del is my name. You two have the good luck of traversing this dungeon with me as I am ready for anything anytime. If things get hard, just call my name and I¡¯ll kill all the monsters even if all my armor is stripped and my weapons broken. And before you even ask, no I will not train you to fight or be like me. My body is earned.¡±


    It was interesting to finally learn one of their names. The group of seven were probably all just as good at fighting as him either due to experience or items. Which explained how the first room was cleared in just the short time it took me to enter the dungeon.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s a unique way of introducing yourself. That reminds me, what are your names?¡± I asked the others, taking advantage of this opportunity to figure out just who I was traveling with.


    ¡°Wait, you came along without knowing who they were? That¡¯s either incredibly stupid or in a way, smart. Did you tag along on impulse or realize that it was a great opportunity?¡± Asked the knight. Thinking back, it was a little bit of both.


    ¡°Really? There are people here that don¡¯t know about us? What a rarity. Are you from out of town?¡± asked Del.


    ¡°Of course he¡¯s from out of town. No one in this city lasts long without hearing our name with our achievements. They shout our names in bars and talk about how much they wish they were us in town. And now, he shall know of our names as well. I am Dedrick, a specialist in spears and other weapons of reach unlike that brute Del,¡± said one of the other men in the group.


    ¡°Melon,¡± said the woman who had us line up in the beginning randomly. No, not randomly. That was her actual name. She said nothing more about it or herself, simply turning her head to the side. Short, simple, and to the point. Still, being named after a fruit was quite ridiculous. The others ended up introducing themselves in a way similar to Melon, choosing not to be flashy like Del and Dedrick had been. Bornia, the other female in the group and then the final three men: Gadrian, Mantra, and Frank.


    ¡°Well my name is Lance, though I¡¯m better with a sword than a spear or lance,¡± said the knight beside me.


    ¡°We don¡¯t care about your names. It¡¯s about time to start clearing out the next floor and we do hope you have enough skill that we won¡¯t have to step in for any reason other than boredom,¡± said Dedrick while pointing to the portal to the next room.


    There were still some scattered silver ores on the floor but some of the group of seven went around picking them up. Perhaps this was them taking responsibility since Del went wild on this floor and did all the work with the implication that they must finish work they themselves had started. Or maybe I¡¯m overthinking things and they just wanted to move on and either forgot about the ore until after telling us to go or didn¡¯t mind picking it up. It was hard to get a good read on their actions but at the very least I had names to place next to their faces.


    Room ten did not contain the rest area. It wasn¡¯t particularly lucky or unlucky, just something I was used to by now. Actually, the rest area not showing up was a good thing as I needed to get as far as possible in this dungeon without needing the help of the other seven. After a rest area, the difficulty of the next room ramps up as if the rest area had contained monsters. Rest areas had their upsides and downsides and with how strong the seven were, I believed that we would get to a rest area eventually no matter where it popped up.


    Every monster at this point were potential silver ores and pure profit for me and the knight, who I now knew as Lance. Lance took up a position behind me and readied his sword while I lifted up my spear to meet the charge of one of these bird beasts, who were thankfully flightless as the cieling was getting higher and higher to the point where flying beasts would be a serious threat. They mindlessly skewered themselves upon my spear with a cracking noise. A cracking noise?


    At the end of my spear, the end had broken off where it had been cut somewhat. The spear had finally met the end of its use but the force of the beasts slamming into the now pole still cut into and killed them. It wasn¡¯t surprising the spear broke with its past damage and the strain of high impacts with monsters, possibly hitting bone and forcing itself through layers of flesh and muscle multiple times within a few seconds.


    My spear breaking made no difference to my strategy as once enough monsters were stuck on it I pushed it off to the side and drew my sword and decided to pull out the dark dagger as well. In my dominant hand, I held a flame sword that had a long reach and flames that could cause damage even if I missed the enemy. While in my left, I held a dark dagger that could instantly kill any enemies that got close enough for it to reach.


    Before, I kept it hidden and unused due to it being overall safer to use other weapons but in a close-range brawl like this, it was the perfect side weapon. Another reason I was a bit reluctant to use it was due to other people seeing it and getting the wrong idea about it. However, there was only Lance by my side and in this desperate fight, I bet on him not noticing the dagger. Meanwhile, the other seven who might see and recognize the dagger were still in the previous room and by the time they came through, we should have gone deeper into the room.


    After finishing off one group of beasts and slipping my dagger away temporarily, Lance started a conversation with me. At first, I was scared that he had noticed the dagger. Or perhaps, he was wounded and needed my help for treatment. There didn¡¯t appear to be any wounds on Lance since it was only the first group of monsters and my dagger made the fight a lot more bearable so my mind immediately went to the worst possible situation. Tons of excuses for the dagger ran through my mind, only to go unused.


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your name?¡± asked Lance.


    ¡°Excuse me?¡± I asked back, confused by the question. He was asking for my name? Nothing about the dagger. He wasn¡¯t wounded and nothing important had happened. He simply wanted to know my name since I hadn¡¯t gotten the opportunity before as we were interrupted before I had the chance to share.


    ¡°Yeah, you weren¡¯t able to say it because they said it wasn¡¯t important. However, I respect your fighting ability and how you can take hits to the point where your name is important to me,¡± he said.

 Drunk Dungeon Poll

    Drunk Dungeon Poll


    Back in September, I started writing this story with the goal of writing 3,000 words per day and came quite close to meeting that goal, missing a day or two due to some IRL issues. Then in October, I had a string of bad luck including sore wrists bordering carpal tunnel due to improper typing while writing in September, a nasty cold that lasted two weeks, and more IRL issues. After I recovered, I was unable to push chapters out as easily and even had issues going to sleep in a timely manner due to staying up late to push out chapters so often I got used to staying up until 4-5am.


    Now I have motivational issues, not only due to the long breaks between chapters, but also due to some issues in past chapters I see and want to change, but depending on how I change them it could change everything past that point. So I see it necessary to rewrite the story with edits and major changes. This shouldn¡¯t impact my writing too much as I already have breaks between chapters lasting upwards to a month at this point.


    I¡¯ve decided to make a poll, offsite so I have more options, to ask you the readers to let me know how much you want me to keep the change or leave the same about some parts of the story I find to be iffy or not good enough. I¡¯ll make sure to mark each of the poll options that are being used in the story with (current) and they¡¯ll all be optional so you can answer as much or as little of the poll as you want. The poll will go on for maybe a day, possibly more. Depends on how much activity it gets and when I get back in the mood to write properly.


    Depending on how you fill out the poll determines how much of the story stays the same or changes. Feel free to point out anything else not mentioned in the poll that you think should be changed or expanded upon.


    The poll questions and answers with details will be below.


    Which point of view should the story be told from?


    First Person (current)


    First person is when the story is told from the perspective of the protagonist and his thoughts are the narration. Its strongest point is that it makes it really easy to flesh out the protagonist without trying too hard as long as the narration matches what the protagonist says and does well. Its main weakness is that it limits my vocabulary and can sound quite awkward at times since I have to go out of my way to make sure I don¡¯t start every sentence with ¡°I¡± or ¡°The.¡±


    Third Person


    Third person is the perspective most stories are told with, an unknown or nonexistent character narrates the story. It allows for relative freedom of vocabulary and is the most commonly used POV as well as the POV most people prefer to read. Its main weakness is that when done poorly, characters, including the protagonist, can come off as flat or two dimensional. If this is the result in the poll then I¡¯ll probably majorly transition the story more towards the protagonist actually being drunk and affected by it. After all, it¡¯s hard to describe a drunk person from their perspective but a third person narrator has no such issues.


    Third Person Limited


    Restricts the POV of the narrator to only the protagonist¡¯s perspective. The narrator does not know the thoughts of other characters and tells things in relation to the protagonist.


    Third Person Omniscient


    The narrator is like an all knowing god and knows the thoughts of everyone and often times will even foreshadow whether something is a good idea or explain the motivations of other random characters without being rooted to the protagonist in terms of perspective or storytelling.


    Note: I will continue writing in past tense. I will not change the tense of the story. I¡¯ve tried writing in first person before and it¡¯s like writing first person but ten times worse.


    How should the dungeons be structured?


    Very structured except during convergences (current)


    This basically means that dungeons always up in difficulty at certain points and the number of monsters between each trip is consistent on certain floors and such. The only exceptions being the rest area, special elemental monsters, and during convergences where things are more chaotic and the difficulty ramps up.


    Loosely StructuredEnsure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    Difficulty ramps up at random points but things still get harder further in the dungeon. Like two enemies might pop up at room two instead of later on and so on. Basically, every dungeon¡¯s difficulty changes at a different rate.


    Every dungeon is different but structured


    Basically, dungeons always ramp up in difficulty at the same room, but this varies from dungeon to dungeon. Like the dungeon in the starting town and the city are not the same.


    Should only one type of monster appear in each dungeon instance?


    Only one type of monster that becomes more numerous deeper into the dungeon and gains new behaviors (current)


    Basically, you enter the dungeon and find one type of monster and that same monster can be found throughout the rest of the dungeon. You can even leave and come back for a new type of monster to find a suitable dungeon for getting far or an easy fight.


    Weak monsters appear on the first floors and stronger, yet related monsters appear deeper in, following a theme.


    Something like if the monster on the first few floors was like a goblin, then hobgoblins, orcs, ogres and such can appear on later floors as the difficulty gets higher. More than one type of monster appears but it¡¯s something either like an upgrade or closely related.


    Every room can have completely new monsters, weaker or stronger, less or more numerous, random.


    This will make dungeons a lot more chaotic and dangerous as one room might have weak slow moving enemies while the next has armored flying birdbeasts of death and destruction. But it might slow down my writing a bit during dungeons as I either have to describe every monster the protag comes across or gloss over the weaker ones with little detail.


    Should Monsters be unique to dungeons?


    Monsters appear only in dungeons (current?)


    I haven¡¯t written about any monsters outside of dungeons and have mostly described monsters by appearance rather than common names they might receive if they showed up consistently outside of dungeons. Like how I wrote slimes to be more like puddles that formed hands. If this is chosen, it¡¯ll stay this way more or less with possibly some mention of dangerous animals on the surface but nothing beyond that.


    Monsters appear in dungeons and on the surface naturally


    Basically there are monsters in dungeons and ones on the surface, but tend to be different with some exceptions of monsters that appear commonly enough on the surface or in dungeons to receive names. I won¡¯t do the trope of monsters bursting out of unattended dungeons as I¡¯d prefer to write the story as them being natural wildlife people are used to and sometimes even treat as wild animals more than monsters or possibly even pets.


    What should monsters drop in dungeons?


    Monsters have a chance of dropping ores, with very rare odd drops from special monsters like magic equipment. (current)


    Monsters, when a room is cleared out, have a chance of forming into metal ores that are valuable in day to day life, with adventurers providing the world¡¯s material needs from the earth rather than opening up mines. Occasionally monsters with weapons might drop said weapon and special monsters are guaranteed to drop an elemental item.


    Monsters drop coins that are used directly as currency or exchanged for local currencies


    Same as above but instead of ores, coin directly drops that is accepted as a universal currency but tends to be too valuable for most small scale transactions and some places might not accept the coin for reasons and so it can be exchanged for smaller local currencies unrelated to dungeons.


    Monsters can have body parts harvested for cash


    Instead of monsters dissolving into the dungeon and basically only the ores having worth, various monsters have parts of their body that can be exchanged for cash. Which part is valuable would likely cause monsters to be placed in various categories and common parts that tend to be valuable taught among adventurers to maximize cash gain without necessarily knowing what the hell they killed.


    Treasure chests with cash and equipment can spawn after a room is cleared or on their own without monsters.


    Treasure chests that might contain coin or items spawn occasionally after clearing a room or take up a room all on their own like a rest area. Monsters, on the other hand, have pretty much no value on their own and are just beings to be killed so you can continue onwards.


    Should the story change?


    Protagonist will die in a year if he doesn''t form a knight order for a goddess without much more info than that (current)


    The story is more or less a bit forced. It¡¯s a reason for a character who would normally just be fine drinking his life away to go into the dungeon since there¡¯s a chance to save his life and most of the story is written on the fly. I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going to happen in the next few chapters because I don¡¯t really plan ahead. All I do is write what I feel like writing while trying to keep things somewhat logical and consistent.


    More of a structured logical story


    I¡¯ll figure out a way to make the story have a semblance of structure with a better plot and a transition from an introduction to rising action to climax to falling action to resolution or something like that. The story itself will be quite similar to before but would have some major changes, unless of course, you vote options other than the (current) on most of this poll then I¡¯ll probably make things completely different.


    What do you think the protagonist should be named?


    I never named the protagonist in this story. I just found it awkward to name him in the first chapter and never bothered to come up with a name so I just avoided naming him in general. I¡¯ll let you guys come up with possible names and I might choose one from the list or I might just go with one of my own preference I think of.

 Rewrite 1: Hangover in the Depths

    That night was one of great merriment and celebration as the harvesting season came to a close and soon the temperatures were to drop. A merchant had come by earlier in the day, buying some of the excess crop not taxed nor set aside to last us through the cold season. He had paid not only in coin, but booze, beer, ale, and even a bit of spirits to liven the town up. Meanwhile, the local hunters had brought back plentiful fowl for a feast while the few adventurers who called this place home had scavenged monster meat from the local dungeon for any brave enough to try it.


    I was one of the men celebrating in the local tavern, where all of this food and drink had gathered, and was already drunk as can be. It was one of the few times of the year I had any cash to spend as I had helped with the harvesting. A pouchful of coins that was but a drop of water to the tab I had racked up over the years. Yet, I was stilled allowed mouthfuls of alcohol straight from the taps as the small dent I had put in my debts disappeared. Throughout the winter, I¡¯d probably have to spend every sober moment cleaning and working for the inn. Thankfully, the times I was drunk far outnumbered sobriety.


    ¡°Hey old drunkard, how are you ever going to pay me back if you drink all the coin you bring? What¡¯s your plan for when you get too old to help with chores, the plowing, and the harvests?¡± asked Tom, the owner of this fine establishment.


    His family had owned it for multiple generations. Its history could be seen in the mishmash of chairs and tables, some old and some new. Most of the chairs and tables were wooden, elaborately or roughly carved, but a few were partially metal or stone. Tom, and Tom¡¯s dad, also named Tom, and his dad, another Tom, and so on would pick up things the town was throwing away or the merchants were selling for cheap, resulting in such an assortment of furniture and also odd decorations like the skull of a monster above the bar.


    I was seated upon one of the rough wooden chairs, which was more of a stool since it was a tree stump with the top smoothed a bit and most of the roots hacked off. The others drinking with me had much better chairs due to them being paying customers without a high tab and the fact that they contributed towards this feast. However, I was still at the long strip of the counter from which Tom poured drinks from behind and could watch him cook my dinner and fetch new kegs of drink.


    ¡°Don¡¯t even bother Tom, he¡¯s never once considered paying you back. He¡¯ll be wiping these tables all winter. Not like he could ever afford land to pick up farming with his habits and he¡¯s too old to learn a trade. Heck, if not for me bringing back meat from the dungeon, he wouldn¡¯t even be able to eat properly for most of the year,¡± said Jerry, the narcissistic leader of the local dungeon hunting group. He attributed pretty much everything good happening in the village to him and his boys bringing back cheap meat for most people to eat and disliked people who didn¡¯t do much.


    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know, that I once explored dungeons before just like you and it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal,¡± I said somewhat truthfully. In reality, I entered a dungeon once, got scared of the monster within, and left with soiled pants.


    ¡°You? In a dungeon? I bet you¡¯d die in the very first room if you so much as tried,¡± he said while placing a silver coin on the counter. It was probably true, but saying it like that made me deeply angry. I wanted to disprove him. Not out of a sense to prove I wasn¡¯t useless or a bum, but to make him wrong. If I had any money I¡¯d put a coin down to match him then storm off.


    ¡°It¡¯s bad luck to bet on people dying. I bet that he¡¯ll get lost on the way or pass out on the path to the dungeon,¡± said Tom while placing a coin and matching Jerry¡¯s bet. I couldn¡¯t believe that not even Tom, after all these years of knowing me, didn¡¯t believe me. Wait, it was because he knows me that well that he bet that way.


    ¡°Won¡¯t even make it to the door,¡± said Jeff, the local blacksmith that made and repaired all the tools in the town. He wasn¡¯t known for talking much and normally would only enter a conversation if someone called his name. Even he of all people got into this bet to shame me.


    I stood up from my stool and then held out my hands to steady myself as blood rushed to my head and said, ¡°I¡¯ve done it before and I¡¯ll do it again. Just watch me.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s the spirit. Quick, someone bet on him being successful. That way a proper bet is setup and we can all have some entertainment tonight,¡± said Jerry, shoving some of the other drunkards nearby.


    Tom pulled out a glass bottle with some of the strong stuff in it and said, ¡°If you truly go to the dungeon, whatever happens, this bottle¡¯s yours courtesy of whoever wins the bet.¡±


    The bottle was set before my face and even though it had a top on it, I smelled how strong the brew was. To my disappointment, it was only a quarter full, yet that was enough to get me absolutely wasted well beyond my current state if I was sober despite drinking half the night away already. Before Tom could stow it away back behind the counter, I snatched it and mumbled something about taking my reward in advance while stumbling to the front door of the tavern. Just the smell alone made me unable to speak and shriveled my tongue up in dryness.


    As soon as I pushed the door open, the cold night winds buffeted me, threatening to push me right back inside and raising every hair on my body. I popped the cork on the bottle and shivered, not out of the cold or the cutting wind, but in anticipation of the taste. It met my cracked lips with a burning sensation and slipped inside. My dry mouth came to life as the drought was lifted. Tears came to my eyes as warmth filled my stomach and the smell burnt the tips of my nose hairs off.


    With a stomach full of liquid courage, I ambled in the general direction of the dungeon. It was on the outskirts of town, down the river and partially in the woods. Built right into the side of a hill with a small sapling resting on top. Within ten or so years it¡¯ll become a large tree with its roots covering up or going around the entrance to that place. It itself was a pitch dark hole, eaten out of the side of the hole as if someone took a massive bite out, and it led somewhere else. Not to the other side of the hill, not underground, not even down the other side of the world, just somewhere else.


    I couldn¡¯t remember even how I got there, following the path or just walking in a random direction and finding myself before it. There was no hesitation other than a pause to take another drink. Then, everything else was a blur. Everything went dark as if I left my consciousness outside while my body went to another world, fueled only by alcohol and a desire to prove myself.


    --------------------------------------


    When I woke up, I was lying on the floor. No, not floor but ground. Dirt and dust caked my body while rock poked into my stomach and face. A raging headache and a violent heat assaulted my forehead, only somewhat dampened by the cold and unwelcoming ground. I was not inside any buildings yet neither was I outside.


    As soon as I started to lift myself up, a wave of nausea hit me. The only thing that came up was bile, acid, and other foul burning fluids, tacking on a sore throat to the list of things plaguing me. Soon enough there was nothing left to throw up and after a few more dry heaves I was able to catch my breath. While wiping the rest of it off my mouth, I noticed a bowl of food and a glass bottle.


    The bowl was weaved of straw, more of a basket than a bowl if not for its size and shape. Within it was all the necessities for a day¡¯s meal. A loaf of hard bread, deshelled nuts, two carrots, and a small cheese wedge. If not to fill my stomach, it would at least give me something to throw up later. Before I could dig in, I wanted something to soothe my throat and quench my throat.


    An opaque white bottle sat right next to the bowl of food. Anything that could quench my thirst was welcome, preferably water. As soon as I popped the stopper from the bottle, I smelled something with a bit more spirit, liquor. Much like the stuff I drank yesterday, it had a strong smell. It turned me away as I was still recovering from a hangover and wracking headache from yesterday. Eventually, I took a small sip and it burned everything on its way down, making me cough and almost vomit again as if I had anything to vomit left.


    The burning sensation settled down to a somewhat nutty aftertaste and the lingering burn cleared my head somewhat, distracting me from the headache. Not just that, but it was also giving me a light buzz. Normally, it¡¯d take around twenty mugs of beer to knock me out but a full mug of this was just as likely to blind me as it was to kick me into next week with how good one sip was.


    With my throat in the best condition it¡¯ll be in for hours and my stomach deciding not to try and spew out what I just drank, I started eating starting with the bread to fill my stomach and soak up some of the alcohol. While I emptied the bowl of food of its contents one by one, I looked around the place. It was some sort of cavern with two exits, one in front and one behind. As much as I wished this was a cave or someone¡¯s basement, this was the dungeon.


    Not only were my memories of the previous night starting to come back to me, but I also noticed something distinctively wrong. A torch hung on the wall but had nothing to keep it in place while no smoke came from it. In fact, it seemed like the fire was suspended above the torch instead of actually burning it. The wooden part of the torch wasn¡¯t burnt or discolored by the licking of the flames.


    This was the worst possible scenario. I was deep within the bowels of the earth itself or perhaps somewhere else and was surrounded by rooms filled with hostile environments and not-so-friendly monsters. At the very least, I was in a room without any monsters. In fact, it had food and drink while letting me sleep most of the alcohol and day away. If not for this, I¡¯d surely be dead by now.


    A safe room or rest area it¡¯s called. In the past, I had heard adventurers talk about a place that appeared anywhere from ten to thirty rooms inside a dungeon that was just like that. It was incredibly lucky for me to come along one of these rooms but it presented the problem of how I was supposed to get out if I was that deep inside the dungeon.


    After I finished eating the bowl of food and took another sip of alcohol, I noticed that my body felt slightly damp and gritty. My clothes stuck to my skin and felt disgusting. There was this reddish brown stain on my clothes that smelled horrid. Half a broken bottle fell off my lap when I got up to try and figure out what the stain was. It was the bottle of the alcohol I had drunk yesterday from Tom, with the bottom half missing and jagged. The way the glass broke left nasty edges that looked sharp and could easily draw blood.


    Around these edges, there was this reddish brown stuff that dripped onto the ground, the same stuff staining my shirt. The drink from yesterday wasn¡¯t a red wine and it smelled nothing of alcohol. Which meant it was blood, hopefully not mine. I didn¡¯t feel like I was injured and would definitely notice if I had a new hole compliments of that piece of work. Many a bar goer had their lives claimed by such improvised weapons.


    If it wasn¡¯t my blood then it was the blood of a monster and I had somehow killed it using this bottle. I picked it up as I wasn¡¯t going to walk through the dungeon empty-handed. Not that it¡¯d be very good at fighting monsters as I¡¯d have to get up close and personal to fight, risking injury. Just the thought alone made the hand holding the bottle shake.


    The only good part about this nasty dried blood was that there was a trail of blood leading from one of the exits, presumably the path I took to get here. Or I had gone ahead, killed a monster and came back here. I had to assume it was the former and walked towards the path to the next room. It looked like a dark passage with a light at the end that seemed like it would take a few minutes to cross, but as soon as I touched the edge of the darkness, the light came to me and I was in the next room in an instant.


    It was about three times larger than the rest area. Which meant it was large enough to fit maybe forty-five people standing side by side somewhat comfortably. Not that I¡¯d ever want to be shoved into a room and cramped together with that many people. The space was large enough that I could swing around this broken bottle and even a much longer weapon like a spear without worrying about hitting the walls or ceiling while being able to run around freely, which I imagine is how I killed the monsters, running around like a chicken with its head cut off and shanking them when they showed a sign of weakness.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I found a bunch of blood and gore scattered across the room. The monsters there were dead and rotting to the point where they were unrecognizable. However, they looked almost human in the shape their skeletons and rotting flesh took. If not for all the fur surrounding the bodies, I would believe it if someone had told me that they were human corpses. Thankfully, there were no monsters in this room. Even though I had somehow killed these while drunk, I didn¡¯t have the confidence to do so while sober.


    To my horror, one of the bodies just sunk into the floor, blood, gore and all. That was the fate of everything that died in the dungeon. It would slowly rot and then be absorbed into the dungeon. Then, if I were to leave the dungeon and come back again, it¡¯d be completely different as if even the room itself was wiped from existence. A fate I¡¯d share if I couldn¡¯t make it out of the dungeon.


    There were two other bodies in the room. One monster was bad enough, but three would be a death sentence for me. By the time these bodies all disappear more monsters should start to appear, especially if I linger around. If I was lucky, it¡¯d be this way all the way to the entrance.


    The next room also had a total of three bodies within it. This time in somewhat better shape with some more flesh and grit on the bones. It was edible but I had no plans of eating or taking the meat. Not only was it visibly rotting before my eyes, but it was also attached to a humanoid creature. Just the thought that I may have eaten meat from a creature like this made me want to vomit as the local dungeon explorers would never describe the creatures the meat came from.


    I couldn¡¯t help but kneel by the side of one of the bodies and turn it over using the bottle. Anything to get a grasp on what exactly I might face in this dungeon or rather what I fought yesterday while drunk and hopefully won¡¯t ever face again. As it turned over, all of the flesh and skin fell off, revealing a skeleton. It was distinctively human in the center, like the ribcage and spine, but everywhere branching out was just wrong.


    There was a tail, the arm and leg bones were short yet the hands and feet were eerily long and ended in sharp claws, and the skull was that of a rodent¡¯s. A ratman, mouseman, or rodentman was the only way I could describe it. No way could I fight something like this with its massive teeth and claws. It¡¯d tear me to shreds. I wouldn¡¯t even want to face a normal sized rat in a fight as it¡¯d bite me and leave a nasty wound. Just what would things like these be capable of?


    Leaving the bodies here to rot, I moved to the next room. Which only had two corpses in it much to my relief. They were far less decomposed and it was unlikely that it had been three with one sinking into the ground. In conclusion, I was heading in the right direction. The rooms were getting smaller, there were fewer monsters, and I was getting closer to the exit of the dungeon.


    After that was four more rooms that were almost exactly the same. The only difference being is that the rooms got smaller and smaller, to the point it was about the same size as the rest area. Enough space to fit two to three beds and a stove to keep the place warm, a comfortable house or shack. It was anything but homely with the hard grey rock walls and bodies everywhere. Then again, since all the monsters were dead and I was on the way to the surface, I couldn¡¯t help but be in a good mood and feel lucky.


    In a way, I was lucky, but not the good kind. The next room had two bodies like the one before overlapping each other instead of spaced out like the previous rooms. The one on top was moving, not dead, but a freshly spawned monster to crush all my hopes. It tore the flesh from its fallen comrade and crushed its bones meticulously. Every crunch and slurping sound sent chills down my spine as I imagined it doing those very actions to me.


    Why couldn¡¯t I have woken up sooner? Why did I spend so much time loitering about in rooms, pushing around bodies to get a good look at the monsters, and relaxedly eat back in the rest area? Seeing how fast it was taking care of its fallen brethren, it must have came to this room within the past few minutes. A little bit earlier and I would have missed it; a few minutes later and only one body would be in this room.


    Taking advantage of the fact it was distracted, I took a good long gulp of liquor to calm my nerves. Without that, I would probably drop the bottle shank with how much my hands were shaking. Once I calmed down a bit, I slipped the bottle into a pocket on the inside of my shirt. It was more of a rag than a shirt, but the pocket was sewn on later on in its use and was the only nice part about it. Even though I had already spent all my coin at Tom¡¯s, I felt something already in the pocket but didn¡¯t have the time to check what it was, forcing the bottle in and lifting up my makeshift weapon to fight.


    The monster still hadn¡¯t noticed me so I inched closer to it, hoping it wouldn¡¯t notice me. Maybe I could attack and kill it before it even knew I was there? Or I could just sneak right by without it none the wiser? Or just maybe, from how scared I was, my breathing would get really rough to the point where the creature heard me and turned to face me. The rat stood up on two legs and let out an eerily high pitched squeak. Coming from a mouse, such a noise would just be an annoyance if not a bit cute. From this monstrosity, it was terrifying to the point I blanked out for a second.


    When I came to, the damn thing picked up a rib bone from its meal and charged me, swinging the bone around like a club. The damn thing could even use weapons and was going to kill me if I didn¡¯t stop it. More by instinct than choice, I lifted up the broken bottle in the air and swung downward to meet its charge. I was successful in hitting it and so was it, slamming the bone into my upper left arm and pushing me against the wall while I shattered the bottle even more on its head.


    The blow to its head did nothing to stop it as it bit into my shoulder. I could feel its teeth grinding against my bones and tugging at my flesh. With what was left of the broken bottle, I began stabbing it in the stomach ferociously, digging away at flesh and twisting the handle to wrap its entrails around the bottle and my hands. Meanwhile, it retained a death grip on my shoulder while tearing at my chest with its claws.


    I dropped the bottle and reached my hands into the rat¡¯s wounds, pulling out anything and everything, chunks of gore and organs. Eventually, the foul beast let go of me and fell to the ground. There, I could see all the damage I did to it. The lower half of its body was attached to the top only by its spine plus a tiny slither of flesh and skin. All of its entrails and most of its organs, excluding one of its lungs, were on display scattered across the ground with blood absolutely everywhere.


    Pain wracked my body as I could feel every spot bitten or scratched. Before I was wholly focused on killing the beast before it did me in and didn¡¯t even have the luxury to feel pain. Now, it wanted to make up for lost time. Worst of all was all the rat blood getting on my wounds. Even though I won the fight in the end, I¡¯d probably lose my limbs if not my life to the rot. At the very least, I had some alcohol to help send me off.


    My right hand fumbled to get the top off the liquor as I couldn¡¯t move the left side of my body and managed to bring it to my mouth. It tasted saltier than before but its strength was good for getting rid of some of the pain and the cold. Some of the blood probably slipped in it, mine or the rat¡¯s I didn¡¯t even care at this point. All this over a drunken bet? In my next life, I would surely never drink again.


    As if to taunt my newfound resolve, the rat¡¯s body at my feet started to gather together. All of the rat¡¯s blood flowed from the floor to the center of the room, even the blood staining my body slipped away. Once the body and other fleshy parts gathered there, it all piled together and fused with the ground. This was different from the bodies being decomposed as it formed a bump in the middle of the room that soon split apart into a wooden chest almost large enough to reach my knees in height and around the same width as my shoulders before I lost a bit of it.


    Treasure. Some random valuable decided to bless my dying days and appear in that chest. It could be something wildly expensive or trash. Honestly, I would prefer trash at this point as something really cool would be quite the joke with me dying and all. At the same time, it wasn¡¯t like I could keel over and just pass away without knowing what was in it. My last regret is supposed to be drinking too much not a stupid chest.


    With another sip of alcohol, I walked over to the chest and kneeled down before it as it hurt too much to lean over, and pushed it open. The lid was surprisingly light, making it easy for me to open with just one hand. I expected everything from a pile of cash, a legendary sword, to a pile of salt to rub on my shoulder. What I didn¡¯t expect was a shield. Something that would have been useful if I had it before the fight and was completely useless to me now.


    Rather than a shield, it was more of a buckler, being about the same size as my head and with a strap designed more to sit on my forearm or wrist than being held. From the back, it was brown and I could see wood grain and the individual planks of wood that were kept together by a metal border, making it seem more like a picture frame from the back. The front was a blueish silver in color, making it seem more metallic but that was obviously paint or only a thin layer. However, the most unique part about it was this strange symbol on it that shined as if a strong flame was behind it.


    From one look, I couldn¡¯t tell if it was trash trying to look fancy or a treasure made of common materials. Whatever it was, it was mine so I fumbled with it until I managed to put it on. The treasure chest then sank back into the ground with its contents gone. And just like that, the room was devoid of anything except me, a half-eaten corpse, and my own blood staining the wall and floor.


    After a while, the pain started to go away, replaced by numbness and most annoyingly, itchiness. If I was stupid enough to actually itch, I¡¯d be in a world of pain again. It got to the point where I couldn¡¯t resist anymore and felt a slight itch in a spot where I wasn¡¯t hurt, my forehead. It wasn¡¯t until I had removed some caked on blood that I realized I was using my left arm to do this with. Before it was hanging loosely at my side and I couldn¡¯t even feel it anymore, not to mention move it.


    My left shoulder as well could move without pain and in my shock, I pulled my ragged shirt down to look at it. There I could see the whiteness of my bone before being swallowed up by flesh. A few minutes later and there was skin where the wound had been before. I took off my shirt completely and found the scratches on my sides had closed up as well. It was as if I was never injured at all.


    I had never heard about this sort of thing happening in the dungeon before. As far as I knew, a treasure chest appearing did not heal people. Nor was I special in any way as I had experienced the long periods of time it took for even a small wound to close up. Which meant this was somehow the shield¡¯s doing. I took back my previous thought about the shield being useless just for getting it after the battle. It was a godsend, lifesaving equipment that could both heal me and protect me from new wounds. A precious artifact I could probably sell for coins normally kept out of common hands.


    A few minutes passed as I let the shield finish healing up my wounds if there were any left to heal then I put my shirt back on. As I did that, a rock fell from it. It was an orangish rock in stark contrast to the grey rock of the dungeon and wasn¡¯t a color I saw very often. That was the object I had in my pocket when I tried putting the liquor away. As it might be something valuable, I put it back in the pocket along with the liquor after taking one last sip before I continued on. As only one monster was originally in this room, that meant I was only a few rooms from the exit if not already there.


    There were actually two more rooms in the dungeon I had to go through, neither had any living monsters, just one more dead each that were less rotted. The one in the last room was so fresh looking that I walked around it a large margin in case it got up and attacked me. Well, as large as a margin as I could as the room could barely fit me and the body. I could only walk just outside an arm¡¯s length around the body. There was a chance that I could harvest this body for meat but the very thought disgusted me and I never wanted to see a monster again.


    As I touched the doorway in that last room, I felt a sense of weightlessness so intense that I almost fell over once it stopped. The sun bore down on me, feeling especially bright this time of day. It was around noon, the time I¡¯d usually wake up after a good night of drinking and I was finally out of that forsaken dungeon. In comparison to the dungeon, it was nice and warm, but not too hot due to a slight breeze.


    Normally at this time, if I were outside, I¡¯d be swearing up a storm about the sun being too bright or the heat making me sweaty and uncomfortable. Instead, I felt a massive surge of relief and everything felt nice. Even the ground looked comfortable compared to the hard rock interior of the dungeon and I was tempted to lay down and just kiss the ground while brushing the grass against my face.


    Instead, I walked over to the river as I was coated in so much blood that I felt absolutely disgusting. Normally, I¡¯d only feel this way after missing a bath for a month rather than bathing weekly like usual. Thanks to the dungeon being downriver of town, I didn¡¯t have to worry about leaving red trails in the water to freak people out or poison them with rat blood. Unfortunately, that treasure chest only removed the blood of the one rat I killed sober and not the dried stuff from last night¡¯s jaunt.


    I bathed with my clothes on as they needed a good cleaning to as well, making sure to take out the bottle of liquor and orange rock first so they wouldn¡¯t be swept away. My bath was very thorough, only lacking in soap to make it perfect but that wasn¡¯t a luxury I could afford. An hour long of scrubbing got the blood and dirt off, but left a bit of smell while the clothes stayed stained. However, the stain covered the clothes so extensively that I could just say they were always that color.


    Now that I was clean in a sense, I¡¯d have to figure out what to do next. I could try to figure out what this orangish rock was or I could try to find out how much the shield was worth. More importantly, I had to go back to Tom¡¯s place to let them know I managed to make it back from the dungeon alive. There I might get some insight on the shield and rock as well from Tom or one of his customers.