I Hate Dungeon School

The light of First-Day morning peeked through the window of my dorm room, penetrating the blanket I had pulled over my head. I had been awake for hours, but I refused to leave my warm cocoon, which was protecting me from the cruel realities of a winter morning.

It wasn't as though I wasn't used to winters. Burgotova was a cold place in the winter months, a biting cold that whisked the moisture from a person, freezing and drying at the same time. The dungeons there were plagued with frost-preserved undead, withered by winter's icy grasp. Revenstahd, however, was a damp, cold place, which left you feeling sopping wet when you were already dry. The chill sank into your bones, and it felt like you'd never truly be warm again.

That was what I was combating this morning. I had faced monsters, I had faced thieves and bandits, and I even fought a Knight of the Orders and walked away victorious. But this. This was an enemy I had no power over. I hated, and I mean hated, being cold first thing in the morning.

I popped my head out from under my covers and decided immediately that there was no way in any of the various and terrible hells that I would be leaving my fortress of coziness today, thank you very much. The gods themselves wouldn't make me budge.

I huddled under the covers with the small dungeon core that had become my charge in the last month or so. I held it close to my chest, using my body heat to keep it from freezing. I didn't want it to get a chill and grow up to be some kind of, I don't know, frost dungeon or something. My little core would be powerful and located some place nice and warm.

Part of my brain was embarrassed at my line of thinking, but the rest of my thinking meat was frozen by this stupid winter and didn't care what that part thought.

I snuck a look at my timepiece and groaned. It was time to get up and drag myself off to class. My roommates had already left, and I wasn't going to have enough time for a proper breakfast.

I slid down from my place at the top bunk, reluctantly leaving the safety and warmth, and giving a tiny yelp as my feet touched the cold floor. Socks. Sleeping socks were a must going forward. My poor frozen toes.

I quickly dressed in the warmest clothing I had, completely forgoing my usual hygiene regimen. I would double down tomorrow, but for now, I was content to be a grubby elf. Oh my poor ear tips were numb.

Before I began putting on the thicker garments to tackle the deep cold of the outdoors, I tucked my little dungeon core into a leather pouch I hung around my neck. I had gotten a new one, lined with fur, to keep it extra safe. It had gotten heavier and somewhat larger since I first found it, and I wanted to keep it safe. It was able to deal with my absence much better now that it had grown, but too long separated, and it began to feel concerned, which, due to our strange connection as the one who helped birth it, for lack of a better term, made sense. And when it became concerned, it gave me the worst headache. A marked improvement from absolute wracking pain. As if I needed any more of that, I grimaced as my stiff muscles protested all the activity.

I dug into my clothes, hoping beyond hope that I had remembered all the parts of my winter gear, and I was delighted to find that I had! I put on a blue hat, lined with soft rabbit fur, and had little pouches to tuck my ears into. My ears were now nice and safe from winter's villainy, though it had the downside of muffling my hearing. A worthy sacrifice, in my not-so-humble opinion.

I moved out of the dorm room and made my way outside, cringing as the cold air made contact with my skin. I had no idea that the frigid dorm hall was actually sparing me from whatever hellish torture this was.

I hated winter. I hated winter with all of my being. When I graduated, I was going somewhere warm, with sunny beaches, hot sand, and those trees with the coconuts, whatever they were called. I'd be some kind of tropical adventurer and have tropical adventures. It would be amazing.

I was lost in my thoughts as I trundled towards the cafeteria to scrape together what food I could manage to get my hands on before sitting through another lecture. Dungeon trips were rare events this time of year, as it seems that even dungeon cores of their region didn't care much for winter, and there was little to no growth to prune, and the monsters became much weaker and weren't very good for training against. Even the treasures became sparse. So it was season for the simulated dungeons, and all the repetition that entailed. I was surprised to learn that even the Corridor Dungeons seemed to slip into a sort of torpor, despite being situated inside, away from the elements. Chalk that up as another mystery for the strange things.

I winced at the pain I felt in my arm. Despite all the healing and therapy from my injuries at the duel against that thrice-damned excuse for a knight, Cavendish, when the weather got damp and cold, it hurt like hell, and my movements became stiff. I had to confess, it was good we weren't journeying into any real dungeons right now, as I would be at a disadvantage I could ill afford.

I pushed open the door to the cafeteria and sighed in delight at the rush of warm and downright delicious-smelling air. When I first came to dungeon school, the food turned my stomach most times, but now even the paltry fare was a comfort to my hungry stomach, to the point I didn't even really miss the fancy dinners at my family home. Fie to any memories of that place anyway!

"Hey there, good looking!" A familiar voice called out to me. I turned and saw Eira waving at me enthusiastically. The raven-haired half-elf was bundled up much like myself. I saw that she had two cups of coffee. And to my delight, a pair of pastries that were steaming with blessed heat. I was going to take my chances and assume one was for me.

Eira was a spellsong, a type of magic user who used music to focus her magic. She was also a powerful hand-to-hand fighter and was teaching me a few tricks to supplement my own fighting style. She was also my girlfriend, sort of. We hadn't really established any official status on that, but she was the only person I had any interest in dating at the moment, and to be honest, I didn't see that changing any time soon. I wouldn't completely discount the idea, but for now, I was happy with the way things were.

She stood and embraced me and gave me a peck on the cheek.

"Goodness, you are frozen! I thought you Burgotovans were good with winter." She laughed and embraced me harder as if she was trying to squeeze warmth into me. I felt myself getting warm, certainly, but from body heat or something else I wasn't entirely sure of.

"I-it's a damp, cold here. Dry cold in Burgotova. Very different way of freezing to death. I think I like it better here, though," I said as I hugged her back. "Please tell me that coffee is for me, or I swear by all the gods I will cry. I'll do it. I have zero shame this morning."

"No crying! It is yours, you shameless wretch, you! I just got it, so it should still be nice and warm for you. And before you ask, yes, one of the pastries is for you. I had to get a little physical with someone in line to get them, but get them I did!" She laughed and let me go. I immediately sat down, picked up the cup in my gloved hands, and downed it in one go.

"Oh, that is heavenly!" I sighed as I slumped into my chair, grabbing a pastry and nibbling on the buttery flakiness of it. I finally felt properly warm for the first time since I woke up.

"Your dorm floor having heating trouble too?" She asked, sipping her own brew.

I nodded. I knew they wouldn't keep the dorms that cold on purpose. It's not like indoor heating was an unknown here. Revenstahd wasn't a backwater; it was one of the largest and most powerful independent city-states in the Mortal Kingdoms, so it should damn well have heating!

"Any idea what's going on?" I asked, taking off my hat. The warmth of the coffee, the tasty treat in my tummy, Eira's body heat, and the coziness of the cafeteria were working to overheat me, an ironic turnabout from my earlier temperature-related struggles. It was also making me want to fall asleep, which I absolutely would not do.

"No idea. I overheard other students talking about it, and they overheard it from some of the staff. You know how gossips are around here." She sighed and sipped at her cup.

It was true. For being an institute for learning specifically for the sort of folks that willingly crawl into underground holes in search of treasure with little regard to personal safety, the amount of gossip and talking behind each other's backs was incredible. The rumormongering intelligence network that was the maids and butlers of the aristocracy would be jealous.

I suppose it made sense, though. Most of what you could call intel gathering amongst dungeoneers and adventurers was through word of mouth. Developing your own little network of people who know things was a useful skill. One, I had to sadly confess I was lacking in.

"Whatever the cause is, I hope they get it fixed. I'm getting very tired of freezing my toes off when I get out of bed. I'm lucky I got enough money left from that stupid duel to get some decent blankets!" I chuckled. Of all the skills I had learned since my exile from the Marchesi lands, frugality was one of them. Those coins would keep me warm and fed through the winter.

"Anyhow, beautiful, I sadly have to get to classes. Parting is such sweet sorrow, and all that." She got up and planted a kiss on my forehead, which caused a huge blush to spread from my face to the tip of my ears. She giggled at my reaction and left, my only reaction being to wave and sigh wistfully as I watched her go.

It had been a short relationship, only a month or so, but I was head over heels happy. In my past life as a noble's daughter, I had dealt with so many suitors who had been thrust upon me. One day, I finally had enough and plotted a little prank on some stuffy scion of some family I couldn't be bothered to remember, to liven up my mood about the entire thing. Nothing major, in my mind, but it was enough. That sent me packing and started the journey to where I am now.

Romance was something I just assumed happened to other people, but here I was, doe-eyed and smitten for a half-elf spellsong of all things. The scandal back home would be immeasurable! That made the entire thing even more delightful.

I idly looked at my timepiece and swore, nearly spilling the last of my delicious coffee. I was going to be late! I chugged the last of the brew, nearly choking on it, as I pulled my winter gear back on and charged back into the cold hell that was the outside world.