The Cursed Princedom (Realm of Arkon #2)

by G. Akella

  "Are you sure they didn't have their reasons? You never know what medical condition those kids may have had. The rumors must have spread after the first successful transfers. How do we know what's happening in that world right now? For many people, coming here was the last chance. You of all people should understand that."

  "Well, in that case, maybe," Luffy nodded. "But enough about sad things already. Let's get our questing on. I get the feeling we might have to spend the whole day standing in line. Come on, you glutton, show us where to go."

  The scrub tree that Bonbon led them to half an hour later stood on the bank of a pond with bluff shores, covered in brown duckweed. The nearby river, which ran through the city, gave out a chill. There was a slight wind that carried the smell of mud and water vegetation.

  "Wow, there's a river here, too," muttered Luffy musingly, eyeing the three-hundred-foot line to the tree entrance. "How about a swim? Bonbon can keep our place in line in the meantime."

  "Of course, my dear chap, go for it," the bald warrior gave the mage's back a nudge. "Just don't forget to take your snorkel along. And ask Max to cut away the duckweed at the shore so you could take a dive."

  "What are you talking about?" Max gave Bonbon an quizzical look.

  "Our mage wishes to go for a swim," Bonbon pointed at Luffy with his thumb.

  "In this puddle?" the warrior looked at the mage in surprise.

  "Max, is your head completely in the clouds?" Luffy sounded outraged. "I just wanted to take a walk to the river."

  "Yeah, but the river's just like this pond," Bonbon guffawed. "It's a thousand feet across, with maybe a hundred and fifty feet of clean water in the center. It flows into the Great Swamp, after all—that's where all the duckweed comes from. Why do you think they called it the Green River?"

  "Bah, the hell with you two," Luffy waved his hand dismissively and went to join the line.

  "Straw Hat! Hi there!" A red-haired priestess emerged from the group of players standing next to the line, waving to Luffy.

  "Holy cannoli," Max chuckled and shook his head in surprise. "Hello, Esthera," he greeted their old acquaintance. "Where'd you leave Leeque?"

  "I'm right here," an ashen-haired ranger stepped out of the same group, and waved to the companions. "Come on over."

  There were six people in the group they approached. Apart from their old friends, Max was greeted by two level 33 rangers, a level 28 lady mage, and a level 34 priest. All of them wore in identical red cloaks with a black stripe in the center and three white crosses upon it. Esthera and Leeque wore the same cloaks.

  "Wow, I see you have already joined a clan," Luffy smiled at the girl.

  "That's right," she nodded. "Amsterdam Lions. The insignia on the cloaks is a fragment of our city's coat of arms," Esthera turned around, demonstrating the design of her cloak. "How did you fare in Maeglyn Woods? Have you survived? Did you find your straw hat?"

  "Yup, it was right where I found it," Luffy looked at Max and smiled. "Nothing particularly terrible happened. We reached Yltarin, delivered the message, and split. We didn't pick up any quests there."

  "Good enough," the girl smiled. "Let me introduce you. This is Alex, this is Lyssa, this is Corky, and this is Dan," she pointed at each of her companions.

  "This is Max, and I'm Luffy. And this one here," the mage pointed at the tank, chewing on something as always, "is Bonbon. And what are you guys doing here? Standing in line, too?"

  "Nope, we have already picked up our quests," Leeque explained. "All four of them. The locals already know who we are and spare us the long-winded speeches. We visited three rooms, collected all the quests at once, and were told to beat it."

  "So what are you up to now?"

  "Looking for a group. We'll need to hit up the Temple of Loaetia—I think we told you about that—to get Esthie that tattoo. But you need to be level 20 to get that quest, and the Lake Pit is a fine place to grind some levels." Leeque sighed. "Our friends completed it twenty days ago, and they cannot go back. There are lots of dps around, but tanks are in short supply," he looked in Bonbon's direction with some hope.

  "So it's just the two of you?" Max asked.

  "Yeah. The guys just tagged along to keep us company..."

  "That's perfect! We have a tank right here, but we're a healer and another dps short. Although we haven't received the quests yet."

  "That part is a piece of cake," Leeque smiled. "Send me and Esthie a party invite, and we'll share the quests with you."

  "What's your toughness at?" Corky, the level 34 priest, asked Bonbon.

  "Nine," replied the tank with a shrug.

  "Esthie," the priest addressed the red-haired girl. "Don't let his health drop below sixty percent—better still, keep him above eighty." He turned to Bonbon and asked him, "Will you please put your helmet on?"

  The warrior took the required piece of equipment out of his bag without a word, and placed it on his head, instantly becoming the spitting image of a character from a black-and-white Soviet movie Max remembered from a history lesson back in school. Those were the very knights drowned by Alexander Nevsky in Lake Peipus at the end of the movie. In other words, Bonbon's helmet looked like a simple galvanized pail with three curved slits in it. Max's iron headdress looked like a work of art in comparison. But Corky didn't seem bothered by aesthetics. After asking to join the party, he took a good look above Bonbon's head. There was surprise on his face.

  "Seven rare items, fifty six percent damage absorption, and 900 HP. Not bad at all! When did you manage to collect all that?"

  "We invested some money with my wife a while ago," he said gruffly, taking off the helmet. "She's in Vaedarr. Got any more questions?"

  "Sorry," the priest frowned, producing a shiny metallic belt from his bag and handing it over to Bonbon. "Here, take this, friend. It will raise your constitution by eighteen, and it's a present. 180 more HP won't go amiss, I assure you."

  Looking embarrassed, Bonbon sighed but took the belt he was offered. He gave Corky a firm handshake.

  "Thanks. I'm the one who should be sorry. It's none of your fault..."

  "Tell me, how are you sorted for potions?" asked Lyssa.

  Potions were in short supply, so each of the companions instantly received ten pink lesser health potion vials. He and Bonbon also got five vials each of lesser stamina elixir, while Luffy was given ten lesser mana elixirs.

  Max felt overwhelmed, but when he tried to refuse, Corky cut him short instantly.

  "Look here, mate, right now experience is a lot more important than a few measly vials. We won't be able to leave Ellorian until you complete the dungeon. It is pointless to level up in the suburbs—you've got ten hunters to a single hare. Help our friends clear the instance, and we're even. What's more, I could pay you..."

  "Hold it," Max said. "They're not just your friends—they're our friends, too. So, we're good."

  "Esthie is my baby sister," Corky smiled. "But I hear you loud and clear, my friend. You can skip Kryass, the final boss—he's level twenty, after all. But it's up to you—just don't forget to bind yourselves to that rock," he pointed toward a mossy boulder on the shore of the overgrown pond, and gave everyone a shake goodbye. "Best of luck to you guys. We'll wait for you at the dungeon exit."

  Chapter 16

  In order to get to Lake Cave, they had to descend to the duckweed-covered pond, and then wade for another hundred and fifty feet knee-deep in the water along the bluff coast. The entrance leading underground looked like a badger hole in the muddy bank, round and covered in slippery brown moss.

  Max pushed away the roots that stuck out from above, and became the first one to pass through the bluish glow of the entrance. He found himself in a straight wide passage. There were more roots sticking out of the walls and ceiling. Clumps of bluish moss emitted a soft glow—enough to see for about fifty yards ahead. The air smelled of mildew, seaweed and rotten leaves. The first pack of mobs could be seen about a hundred feet from the entrance, moving around
in circles, shuffling their paws in an odd manner. Three level 15 frogs—or toads, the exact species classification remained unclear—about five feet in height, with brown skin with tan patches and prominent ridges on their backs. A frog is a frog is a frog, thought Max to himself, and checked his log to confirm he had all the necessary quests.

  Kerptohog Hearts

  Quest type: normal.

  Deliver the hearts of ten Kerptohogs to Watchman Duilven in Lake Cave.

  Reward: experience, 5 silver.

  Spiky Rat Tails

  Quest type: normal.

  Deliver the tails of ten Spiky Rats to Watchman Duilven in Lake Cave.

  Reward: experience, 6 silver.

  Giant Rat Tails

  Quest type: normal.

  Deliver the tails of ten Giant Rats to Watchman Duilven in Lake Cave.

  Reward: experience, 7 silver.

  Kryass

  Quest type: rare.

  Kill Kryass in Lake Cave and deliver one of his fangs to Rin Hamiltar as proof.

  Reward: experience, 1 gold, rare class-matching gauntlets.

  "Do you think there were any leeches in the pond, Leeque?" Esthie squeaked behind him. "My boots are full of water."

  "No leeches, just snakes," replied Bonbon, the last to enter the cave. He looked around and chortled. "Well, the place sure has a quaint ambiance. And those frogs sure look plump. Pity I ain't French... Well, doesn't matter, I suppose we'll still give them a try."

  "Bonbon, will you cut out the comic routine already?" Max told the bald-headed warrior as Esthie hastily proceeded to pull off her boots.

  "Sure thing," he grunted, and addressed the priestess. "Hey, if you find something, don't throw it away. Snakes are edible in many parts of the world."

  "Is that his sense of humor or something?" Leeque asked Luffy.

  "Yup," nodded the mage. "Remember the adage about a leopard and his spots? Pay no attention."

  "A leopard? Are you saying I have spots? Why, I oughta—"

  "Quit it!" Max interjected before things could escalate any further. "Bonbon, please shut it for a while, or else our friend here will be plucking leeches out of her hair when it's time for her to heal you. Did we come here to flap our gums or to clear a dungeon? If it's the latter, then put your boots on, Esthie, and let's get going."

  "Sure," the priestess nodded. "Can I pick these mushrooms, by the way?" the girl pointed at the clump of toadstools growing on one of the walls.

  "Help yourself," Max nodded. "Bonbon, don your bucket and let's get in position," he used a semi-transparent marker for their targets. "As you see, we begin with number one—we attack the tank's target and give him five seconds to draw aggro."

  "Sounds like this isn't your first time in a dungeon," Luffy grunted behind him.

  "You should really read the guidebooks," Max returned the mage's grin. "Is everyone ready? Let's go!"

  They nearly lost the tank on their very first pack. It turned out that the frogs dealt double blows, first striking with their tongues, and then with their snouts. When Bonbon plunged into the rightmost toad, Esthera had stood too far from him, and her spells couldn't reach the tank. Bonbon deflected his target's blow with the shield, reducing the damage by half, but then he caught the full attacks of the two other mobs. Momentum carried him sideways, as his HP bar dropped by about a third, and was dazed for a few moments, falling down to one knee.

  Max saw Esthera dash forward and realized their tank was seconds away from a deep KO. He Charged into one of the remaining toads and dealt it a mighty blow. The sword made a revolting thwacking sound as it struck the amphibian's prominent brown ridge, leaving a deep gash. The mob turned toward the warrior at once, hitting him with the bony edge of its ugly snout. The toad's maw opened, and the heavy and sticky bluish tongue made an equally unpleasant sound as it struck Max in the collarbone. Then the toad flexed the muscles in its limbs, and... Max never got kicked by horses before, but he had a feeling that now he knew what that felt like. A powerful blow in the solar plexus knocked the wind out of the warrior, and he doubled over. The information from the system log flashed in his peripheral vision.

  Your Toughness skill has increased to 4%.

  "You bitch!" he exhaled, striking the mob again, hard, somewhere in the area of the left eye. The toad's health registered critical damage, leaving it with no more than sixty percent. The creature started to screech hideously, and its tongue hit Max in the side, spinning him around. Then the warrior saw the mob's blurry forward motion and nearly choked with pain. His boot caught a root sticking out of the ground, and Max toppled over, hitting his right elbow hard on a rock. Luffy yelled something from behind, and Bonbon's sword made a flourish on the right, finishing off the nearby toad. With a superhuman effort to rise to his feet, Max managed to deal his opponent a third blow. At the very same moment he felt the effects of the priestess' healing spell, like a pail of ice cold water washing away the pain. Bonbon appeared on the right, uttering some strange yell that made the mob turn toward him, and blocking its retaliatory blow with his shield. A moment later, a fireball hit the toad, and the stench of burning reptilian hide filled Max's nostrils. Leek's arrow ended their very first engagement, plunging deep into the nape of the last toad's neck.

  Max's hands shook a little as he put his sword back into the scabbard on his side and looked around. A smiling Luffy winked to him and blew the imaginary smoke off the top of his staff with a grand gesture out of a Western. Leeque stood bent over Esthera, who had fallen to her knees and started weeping.

  "Thanks, brother," Bonbon patted him on the shoulder.

  The tank's voice sounded hollow and unnatural from behind the helmet. Max imagined Bonbon yelling into a tipped-over pail once again, and ended up chuckling.

  "I... I nearly got you... I'm such an idiot, I miscalculated the distance..." the red-haired priestess kept sobbing. Leeque looked about himself haggardly, unable to calm the young woman down. Then something unbelievable happened. Bonbon took the helmet off his head, approached the crying priestess, went down to one knee, removed a mesh gauntlet, and stroked the girl's head.

  "Easy now, my dear. For our first time, we did just fine! It was my fault—I should have waited for you to come nearer. Do you have any idea how many more situations of this sort we will face in the future?" The warrior looked aside and frowned. "It's best to learn now, while death doesn't give us too much of a setback. So even if you drop me ten times in a row, I won't say a word."

  "But—" the priestess began.

  Bonbon cut her short:

  "No buts! We are still learning, and the more bruises we get now, the easier it will be for us later on."

  Max noticed Luffy's jaw hit the floor. As a matter of fact, Bonbon's heartfelt speech caught him by surprise as well.

  "Hey, boyfriend," their bald companion proceeded to address Leeque. "Got any booze on you?"

  The Dutchman nodded vigorously, visibly relieved.

  "Well, why don't you offer your girl some?" Bonbon gave him a wink. "I wouldn't mind some myself. Of course, I know that you Dutch prefer to munch on shrooms or roll a fancy joint, but you'll have to count me out—I'm more used to traditional stress relief methods. Oh, and I'd be careful with the local mushrooms if I were you. Then again, you might find them agreeable, given your cultural heritage."

  "Damn," muttered Luffy, choking with laughter. "And here I was thinking you got hit on the head so hard you were a goner."

  While Bonbon sampled Dutch liquor, and Leeque helped his already smiling girlfriend to her feet, Max approached the amphibians, spread out on the ground picturesquely, and touched each with his hand.

  Three hearts for the quest, two lesser healing potion vials, and two gallbladders were all they got for such a hard battle. He gave the gallbladders to Esthera—they had agreed in advance that she would hold all the alchemical ingredients to later share them between the group's three alchemists. Then Max waited for Luffy to get a clump of mushrooms for himself, and was about t
o move the party forward, when Bonbon stopped him. Leeque gave the bald warrior a bottle of his 80-proof beverage that he remembered from their Sunlit Forest encounter, and there was a blissful expression on Bonbon's mug.

  "Hold on," he urged Max to stop. "We haven't finished here. I have three dames waiting for me to attend to them."

  He rubbed his hands theatrically as he headed toward the amphibian corpses, then turned one of them onto its back and slashed its hide open from the snout to the short tail. Completely ignoring the entrails sliding out of the cut and the rivulets of the whitish liquid that must have served the toads as blood, Bonbon made long cuts on every limb of the creature and then started flaying it with great care, starting from the head, while singing some bizarre raucous song:

  "Oh, please, let me undress you, and oh, then I will dress you, for I am a hot-blooded man..."

  "Hey, what if this frog is male?" Luffy asked the bald-headed man, grimacing.

  "Why don't you come up here and take a look under its tail, see what you can find there," replied the tank, still engrossed in the flaying. "If it turns out to be male, and you need its gear for some entertaining purpose, I'll be happy to cut it off and give it to you—all you need to do is ask. Anything for a friend!"

  "Has anyone ever told you that you're a psycho?" the mage spat on the ground and turned away.

  Bonbon just grunted as he carried on. Finally, the skin was off, and he touched the already flayed amphibian with his hand.

  "There we go. Frog leg soup on the menu tonight," he cackled contentedly, placing three pieces of pinkish meat and an ingenuously folded hide. "Stop wincing, you rotten intelligentsia, I have some alchemical stuff here, too. A liver and a gland of some sort. Here you go!" he handed Luffy two brownish lumps.

  Luffy sighed and, with a squeamish expression, passed the ingredients to Esthera, who looked perfectly unperturbed by this bit of theatrics.