by Brent Tyman
“There’s a strange presence at the end of this tunnel,” Anny said suddenly. “I think… I think it could be humans, but the aura is enveloped in a cloud of white, making it hard to tell.”
“Humans? Perhaps these are adventurers, my Lady?” Vencia suggested.
“It may very well be. We should keep to the path of this blue line, however. I wish to see where it leads us to,” Juliana replied.
I was fairly sure everyone else had the same thought.
The tunnel we were traveling through exited into a small cavern where an unexpected sight greeted us.
Soldiers were traveling slowly in front of us, sporting blue dyed armor. The color instantly reminded me of the Yunissan students’ blue uniforms at the Academy.
There were nearly two dozen in total, with four of them carrying a very large… box? It had the same rectangular shape as a coffin in all honesty, with intricate symbols etched all along its grey surface.
One of the blue-clad soldiers turned when he noticed our presence and quickly alerted his peers, who stopped and turned around to stare at us.
“Yunissan Soldiers? Here?” Clarissa questioned. “Great, this should be an awkward exchange.”
“Indeed,” Juliana agreed. “But I don’t understand what they are doing here. Perhaps they are lending their arms to help clear the Dungeon of Demons? My father mentioned in his messages that this had been done already, though. At least as far as the twelfth floor.”
I really wanted to see what else her father put in her Clan’s messages. It seemed like there was some pretty useful stuff in there, despite how Juliana groused about her father.
“What’s this we have here?” The blue-clad group’s captain growled as he pushed past his men. “Sovereignty and Federation whelps with… the heirs of all people? You ladies are in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The women hadn’t been overtly concerned about these Yunissan soldiers before, but the captain’s unexpected hostility put them on edge.
“What do you mean we are in the wrong place? We have just returned from aiding the Beastkin town of Valdura, where I note Yunissa sent not a single soldier for relief,” Juliana declared, her formal tone ringing through the cavern.
“The Chief Chancellor has plans far greater than the fate of…” another Yunissan soldier started to say before the captain whipped around to glare at him.
“Keep your trap shut, you git!”
“Resolve this quickly, you fool!” A robed man shouted in a hoarse croak from the back of the crowd. When I looked closely at this guy, I noted he had an extremely pale face, with bloodshot eyes. Either he hadn’t gotten much sleep for the past week, or he was suffering from one heck of a debilitating injury.
There were three more of these robed men. Each of them appeared to be in the same condition. Could these be the earth mages Karl had talked about? The earth mages who had dug those tunnels in the first place?
They certainly looked like mages, at least.
“Ahh,” Anny said. “I have a strange feeling about that box…”
Clarissa’s eyes instantly lit up as a thought occurred to her. “You don’t suppose they have those fabled artifacts that Aurielle is looking for in there, do you? We have to get our hands on that box, handsome. It looks quite expensive, from the outside at least.”
“Oh?” Aurielle perked up. “Perhaps I can trade with them? My armor would be a small price to pay for the artifacts I seek.”
“Ha!” Daiver scoffed. “These Yunissan soldiers would be foolhardy to trade away their spoils. I bet none of them own any land to speak of.”
“Ugh! How does that even factor into this?” Vencia hissed.
The Yunissan soldiers had started arguing with each other and with their captain on what they should do with us. The robed men just wanted to leave, the soldiers wanted to ignore us, but the leader wasn’t having any of it.
One strange thing I picked up on was that many of them kept looking towards a woman at the back of the group who resolutely stared at the ground, as if the answer to what they should do with us was scribbled in the snow. She was practically hidden by the dark robe and cloak that covered her head to toe. Dyed blue, of course, since they were all Yunissan, after all.
Her face wasn’t visible thanks to a deep, cowled hood. The one glance I caught inside the hood revealed that she wore a cloth mask that covered her mouth and nose. I could only see her eyes, which were a pale shade of grey, and thin braids of silvery hair.
At least I thought it was silver. Hard to tell from this distance.
Our eyes met for only a moment before she quickly spun away.
“Remember what the Chief Chancellor ordered. No evidence, no leaks,” the captain hissed, turning back to us.
“Drop your weapons and stand over by that wall!” he ordered us.
“How dare you make demands of the Tasberg Sovereignty’s heir,” Juliana hissed back, hands planted on her hips. “I demand to know who you are and what you are doing here. Clearly, you are not here to clear the Demons from the Dungeon, with that attitude.”
“You have that right,” the captain growled. “In formation, lads. Draw blades!”
As soon as the Yunissan soldiers drew their weapons, we did too. Our own soldiers jeered at the men in blue as they waited for orders.
“No wait, don’t drop the…” a mage shouted before I saw one of the soldiers carrying the large box drop his end to the ground.
I didn’t really see what the big deal was about this, though, my focus was on the enemies before us. This would technically be my first engagement with human opponents, and while I wouldn’t have minded coming to some kind of a peaceful agreement, I doubted that was likely.
Especially after the captain’s ‘No evidence’ comment.
Jeez…
A large thud reverberated from inside the box that had been dropped. It was a hollow sound that echoed strangely from within. One of the mages, who already looked ready to keel over, vomited all over the soldier in front of him.
“Oi! What the…” the Yunissan soldier shouted, but we watched as the mage wobbled in place for a moment before finally dropping like a sack of grain to the cavern floor, his head smacking off the snow. A trail of blue magic, almost shaped like a string connecting the mage to the box, materialized briefly before dissolving into a blue mist.
Another knock reverberated through the cavern, this time sounding like it was coming from all around us and the other mages fell to the cavern floor. One of them managed to barf out whatever it was he had eaten earlier today on the way down.
It was not a pleasant sight.
The captain and the rest of his men seemed to forget we were even there as they stared in horror at the box. A final loud thump caused the box to shudder, forcing the three soldiers still holding it to drop it.
The box slammed into the snow with a lot more force than I expected. The snow quickly melted anywhere the box touched, and the Yunissan soldiers backed away fearfully.
“Shit! The chain lock broke!” One soldier cried out as he looked at an unconscious mage.
“Should we run?”
“What should we do, my Lady?”
“We have to get her to safety!”
What the heck were they on about, now? Again, they kept looking towards the hooded woman, who seemed just as unsure about what to do as the rest of them.
“Stand your ground, you gits!” The captain ordered. “Everyone, dive onto the box to keep it from opening. Now!”
Practically every Yunissan soldier jumped onto the box, trying in vain to prevent it from opening for some reason.
Unfortunately, whatever spell the mages had been casting before had unraveled. An explosion of light burst forth from the box. The blue clad soldiers were thrown back, arcing through the air to land a dozen feet away. At first, I thought the damage wasn’t as severe as I’d expected, but the light gradually became brighter and brighter until I couldn’t look at it without damaging my eyes.
“Stay on your guard!” Juliana shouted.
“What’s going on?” Daiver questioned, “I demand to know.”
I was pretty sure that was what was on everyone’s mind at this point.
When the light dimmed enough for me to take a peek through slitted fingers at the box again, my gaze was immediately drawn to its side, where it slowly opened until its top had flipped completely off.
I braced myself. Prepared for something truly terrible to burst forth. With how the past few days had gone, it would be just our luck to get this close to home, only to have everything go sideways on our way out of the dungeon.
Except, nothing happened. Not for a long moment.
I blinked a few times, before tearing my eyes away from the box to check on the Yunissan soldiers… who had simply gone crazy.
“It’s a giant monster!”
“Dear Gods, it’s horrible!”
“Run for it!”
The Yunissan soldiers quickly rushed out of the cavern, leaving their weapons and other equipment behind. Apparently, none of them had taken any serious damage, despite being blown back from the box.
Though they left their equipment behind, they did scoop up the mages who lay in heaps next to piles of their vomit, and hauled them off with them. With how scared they seemed to be, it was impressive that they didn’t leave any of their unconscious comrades behind. Most of them had run off, though, without a care in the world, screaming nonsense about giant monsters.
“What are you babbling about!” The cloaked woman demanded as the soldiers dashed past her for the exit from the cavern. “Stop! Where are you going?”
“Save yourself, my Lady! It’s coming for us!”
We all watched in confusion as the Yunissans abandoned the box and fled. Soon the cloaked woman stood there, alone.
“What just happened?” I asked.
“Hmm, it appears they released a wide area illusion. It must be quite potent, to alter their state of mind to this degree,” Karl explained.
“Come back! We need to secure the box! My father will…” the cloaked woman growled and smacked one side of her steel encased hand on top of the other in frustration.
“Ohh, surely not?” Clarissa said, her eyes widening. “Stephania?”
The woman looked back at us, absolute shock in her eyes. She quickly observed her surroundings, taking in our numbers before darting to the box. With a quick and nimble hand, she snatched something from the box and dashed back, running after the Yunissan soldiers.
“Stephania! Come back!” Clarissa shouted after her.
“Was that really Stephania, Clarissa?” Juliana asked, her face reflecting her confusion.
“Didn’t you notice how she smacked her hands together? She always does that with her gauntlets any time she is frustrated and the sound grates on my ears. So annoying,” Clarissa growled.
“My Gods, the heir to the Yunissan Republic, carrying a strange box through the Dungeon? This will be my juiciest tidbit of gossip, yet!” Kesara chortled.
“I wonder what she was doing here?” Karl mused. “Her presence would indicate Yunissa is determined to acquire artifacts from the Dungeon. Stephania is a warrior with very powerful stats for her age.”
“Pfft,” Daiver snorted. “She wasn’t stronger than me before, and now my stats far exceed her. It’s only fitting an exemplary Sovereignty Duke’s son surpass the heir of a rival nation.”
“Stats that you only increased thanks to Alex,” Kesara pointed out.
“Yes, yes,” Daiver waved dismissively. “Perhaps I could offer you some land in recompense, Alex? Gods know you need some.”
Daiver wanted to give me land, of all things? What would I even do with it?
He stroked his cheek, deep in thought, before an idea came to him.
“Hmm, I could give you a part of my inheritance,” Daiver offered, albeit in a somber tone. “It would be devastating for me, but I suppose I could let go of a few square miles of countryside. There is some infertile land to the south of my estate that might do. My generosity really knows no bounds, if I do say so myself.”
There was a brief silence before Kesara let out a long sigh.
“Daiver, I really hope your future fiancée has fountains of patience, as she will need every last drop.”
“What? Enticing Alex to join the Tasberg Clan would benefit every single one of us—especially me, of course, but all the rest of you, as well. It’s one of my finest ideas, to date.”
“Yeah, no thanks,” I said, waving a hand. “Think I’ll pass on any offers of land for now.”
“Shall we go after her, my Lady?” Vencia asked.
“We should!” Clarissa shouted, though who she was shouting at, I couldn’t tell. “Stephania stole something from the box, an artifact we could have used—likely one worth lots of gold.”
“Is it really stealing, if they started out with the box in their possession?” Kesara asked. “Sounds a tad less gossip worthy.”
“Of course,” Clarissa said. “My handsome Alex would have defeated the lot of them, and we would have reaped all the spoils, in the end.”
Clarissa crossed her arms and blew out a frustrated breath. “Just wait till I get my hands on her. That overbearing little thief won’t get away with this.”
“Let’s head over and see what loot there is,” I said. “We should be safe from that illusion trap thing, if Stephania managed to snag something without being affected by it.”
We approached the box carefully. Clarissa immediately began trying to estimate how much the box itself might be worth as she studied its ruin etched exterior, but everyone else was far more interested in its contents.
I mean, if the Yunissans had dug deep into the Dungeon and dragged something like this all the way back to the surface, then surely there must be some good loot in there. Loot that had just been waiting for someone to come along and find it.
Which hadn’t worked out that well for the Yunissan soldiers, I realized, when I really thought about it. They were probably still running from whatever illusionary monster the magic had conjured for them.
The inside of the box had even more intricate designs etched along its surface. It seemed to be made out of a strange gray material that was extremely durable but looked otherwise rather ordinary.
“Ohh, so these are the fabled artifacts?” Clarissa wondered as she peered into the box. “To be honest, I was expecting items that had a bit more of a… glow.”
“I must admit,” Aurielle said. “When I started my quest, with the intension of freeing my homeland from its troubles, I did not think about what type of aid I required. My search was solely focused on acquiring more power, in response to the growing threat presented by my enemies.”
“I mean, if we find something that can make those spears of yours do a lot more damage, then surely that would be a good start,” I offered. “Although, I have no idea what I’m looking at.”
In the box lay three items.
The first was a very fancy-looking sword, with runes etched all along the length of its blade. The second was a small pearl, with just a hint of red luster in the heart of its blue surface. And the third item was, curiously, a bundled scroll that Karl hastily scooped up as soon as we determined it was safe to do so.
“A very impressive sword,” Daiver said as he picked it up. “Not really my style, though.” He frowned. “I prefer a thicker grip and a heavier blade. Although, it does make my eyes look more menacing.”
Daiver stared at the sigils on the sword’s blade before Kesara let out a snort.
“I wouldn’t count on that. Our dear Alex would be a much better choice for the sword. Gods know it would go to waste, given how often you get knocked out.”
“Those were flukes,” Daiver retorted before sighing. “Perhaps you are right. Use it wisely, Alex.”
Daiver handed me the sword.
I hefted it in my hand. I got an imp
ression of power. There was the faint feeling that it had some magical energy in it. A low buzzing hum reverberated along my fingers as I held the hilt. The silver metal looked very much like steel, but I could tell it was something much more special.
I had an idea and quickly placed the sword into my Clan storage before opening the menu and seeing what it said about it.
Rodilium Sword - Dropped by
Condition - Excellent
Unable to be used as weapon or armor crafting material
“Huh,” I said. “That’s strange...”
“What is, Alex?” Juliana asked.
“It just says ‘dropped by’… then nothing. Usually, the Clan storage lets me know who dropped a material. Maybe it’s different for stuff like swords?”
“I don’t believe so,” Vencia answered. “Anything put into the clan storage should tell you who its previous owner was. Strange that the sword does not.” With a frown, she turned to Juliana. “Have you ever experienced something like this, My Lady?”
“No, I am just as confused at this as you are,” Juliana said. “What do you think, Karl?”
Karl, however, was much too engrossed in deciphering whatever was on the scroll to even look up.
“What’s also weird is that it specifically notes it can’t be used for weapon or armor crafting. So strange…” I muttered. How would such a stipulation even work? Surely, I could melt it down and reuse its metal. Couldn’t I?
I was almost curious enough to consider trying it, to see what would happen, even though I knew it wasn’t a good idea. A thought occurred to me, and I turned to Aurielle.
“Aurielle, are you normally a ranged magic user or did you prefer melee?”
“My sword was my main weapon of choice,” she replied. “But alas, I lost it during the Troglodread attacked. I need to find a replacement, and soon.”
“Well, you’re in luck.” I couldn’t help the wide grin that split my face. “I think, since you had been searching for artifacts, its only right that you have this one,” I said as I offered her the sword.
