I Hate Dungeon School

Planning a trip outside Revenstahd wasn't easy, especially in the winter. The journey to Burgotova was not a short one, even though we were just heading to the mountains on the border. During the summer, I traveled to get there, and there was calm weather, clear roads, and well-controlled monsters, but it still took me several weeks to reach it.

Winter was a whole different story altogether. However, this time I was traveling with tougher folks than the ragtag band of travelers I had joined. I was tougher , too, for that matter.

Besides myself, we had Professor Andritch, Eira the Spellsong, Smitty the kobold, Myth the Wood Elf, and Cori, our specialist in sneaky things. Thief didn't quite feel right as a thing to call her, even though she had admitted to indulging in that from time to time.

We were a good team, and having a veteran along with us, as well as Eira, could only be a help to us. For personnel, we were more than set.

It was the other dangers that concerned me. Winter was harsh at the best of times, you had to pack a lot of equipment just to stay warm, not to mention food, water, and medicines. And once you hit a certain point on the mountain, you couldn't ride your way further and had to go on foot. Added to all that was the idea of climbing up into the mountain, which presented a whole host of issues on top of everything else, making this entire expedition ridiculously risky.

And then there were the monsters. Real monsters, not the creations of the dungeons. Real proper monsters, the kinds that Knights, Mages, and adventurers handle. The mountains had more than their fair share of beasts, but this time of year, the undead were more prevalent. Shambling, frost mummified, and hard to put down. We still hadn't found a priest or someone with holy inclinations to add to our party, and at this point, it was going to be too late to do so. We'd have to plan for this.

And then there was visiting Smitty's village. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, and the language gaps between me and Smitty didn't help anything. She explained things in broad strokes, when she could explain things at all. From what she said, it would act as a good base camp, all difficulties aside. That was good. It might take a few attempts before we can actually get to the abandoned fortress on the mountain.

I tapped the scroll I was writing all this down on with my pen, a growing sense of irritation growing as the list of things to prepare for grew alongside it.

It was nice to be able to work in my room again, a dim candle lighting my desk, the only sounds being the soft, and occasionally not so soft, snores of my roommates.

Not only did I have to plan for the trip, but I had to make arrangements for classes and work. I was going to be gone for quite a while. I was certain that it would be fine, as it was critical, and though I couldn't go into details with most of my teachers and not with the girls at work, I was sure I could come up with some explanation to allay suspicions.

I sighed and rested my pen on my nose as I leaned back. A bad habit I had picked up in my youth, but I didn't particularly care. The attempt at balancing helped me focus my mind. The risk of cracking my head on the floor added a bit of spice to the equation. I smirked, thinking of all the times I had done exactly that. My sister kept yelling at me about it, saying it would make me into an idiot. Thinking about my situation, she might have been right.

Sister. Cassandra. A thought had begun to form the earliest vestige of an idea. I tipped my chair forward and looked at my desk surface. The envelope was still there. I had never remembered to throw it away, as disgusted as it made me. The wedding invitation.

I reached out and grabbed it slowly, its implications making it feel like it weighed a ton. I turned it over in my hand. The correct seals were still there, proving its authenticity.

Noble seals were a lot like wax seals, but they used alchemically treated wax and magic signet rings. It was admittedly a fascinating bit of artifice, now that I thought about it. The wax would only melt in the presence of the ring, and only a person of the bloodline connected to the ring could use it. I had never been allowed to touch it, even before my exile, so I only had the word of books to trust, but books seemed more reliable than the words of my family anyway. Even those parts of my family I liked, which were few and far between.

The paper of the letter and even the envelope had been magically treated to be indestructible, and no ink could change any word of it. Any attempt would vanish, revealing the original text. I had learned this the hard way. The magic items available to the nobility just came off as unfair for the level of utility they had. I guess that's what power and money can get you.

I opened up the envelope, pulling out the offending invitation, unfolding it, and looking at it long and hard. The gall of Cassandra. Sending me, the forsaken daughter, the red-haired exile, the misfit of the Marchesi, an invitation to return home. And marrying Torvaldus Togalli of all people.

Though of all of the Togalli clan, he was at least attractive compared to the toad he called a younger brother. That said, it still didn't make a lot of sense. Our families had been rivals for as far back as I could find in written records. Our lands abutted each other, and we had border skirmishes before the Kingdom had even been formed. We called it off just long enough to help establish the kingdom in the first place.

The enmity was so profound, they didn't even try marrying me off to that sad sack of a younger Togalli son, whatever his name was. And they tried marrying me off to all sorts of nobles, major and minor.

But here it was, in text written as plain as day. Well, fancily calligraphed as day, but that was neither here nor there. Well, calligraphed too. Sister's handwriting. I could tell by the swoops and precision of each serif.

Gods above and below, I hated how perfect she seemed. Her handwriting was good, her sword play was good, she could do magic without needing any spell poems for the powerful ones, she was beautiful with golden hair, she could dance, sing, everything. She was the perfect choice to be their heir to the Marchesi name, and I hated her for it.

I didn't even want to inherit, not really, but the fact that she was so damned perfect for it, it made me jealous. Her only flaw was her cruelty, and that seemed entirely focused on me. But her cruelty served its purpose. I became stronger, harder-willed, and able to withstand so much.

I hated her, and I hoped her stupid marriage and whatever political chicanery she was up to failed.

If there was one part of my family I missed, it was my brothers. They were twins, Lucio and Elio. When my sister had finished her harsh training, they taught me other, more useful things. Where she focused on power, they taught me finesse. Lucio was a genius at magic, and Elio was a skilled martial artist. They also encouraged me to learn from the house staff.

I didn't even know my parents well enough to properly hate them. I could count the number of times they spoke to me on two hands. And then they were always cold and distant. My mother especially seemed to have a great amount of disdain towards me.

I stared at the ceiling with my pen continuing its precarious balance on my nose, tipped back on two legs of the chair, stewing in my resentment of a past that I would have given anything to change. Well, not everything. I liked the life I had now, and without those hardships, I wouldn't be where I am now.

Where I was now...

The forming thought from earlier finally crystallized into something useful, clawing its way out of my fog of resentment. If I had this, it would explain a lot of things to a lot of people. The school knew who I was, and the excuse of a noble wedding was hard to argue with. I couldn't tell the girls at the shop about it, but the manager I could. She had no doubt dealt with exiled noble girls down on their luck before. I couldn't have been the only one.

The invitation would also give us a way past any border patrols that gave us trouble. Sure, we were provisionally adventurers with the Revenstahd guild, but that didn't mean that the border guards wouldn't find a reason to harass us. A noble invitation, with easily verifiable magical seals, would allow us to slide right past all that nonsense. I could easily claim that my companions, Eira and Andritch, were my retinue. Retinues while traveling were expected, even for exiled nobles such as myself.

They wouldn't even search our luggage, as that would be opening up all kinds of issues. Even though the Marchesi clan was up to some sort of rebellion against the crown, they were still part of the noble houses, and there wasn't a border guard alive who would risk their livelihoods on that.

I did not doubt that transporting an unstable dungeon core would not be a simple matter, and anything I could do to grease the wheels, as much as I hated the idea of it, would help.

Yes, I think this would be the perfect plan for this little quest, I giggled softly to myself, not wishing to wake my companions as they slept. I couldn't help myself, though. It felt so good to be conniving for once.

And it was a quest! A real proper quest, not just dungeon diving, core pruning. A high-stakes, risky quest. We were no doubt not even remotely ready for it, but I wouldn't let that thought keep me down. We would succeed. We had to. Not only to protect people, but also because we needed the extra credit to keep our grades up.

We were all decent enough students, but the continual troubles we faced, admittedly caused by me, were starting to affect things. Having the school owe us would help, I hoped.

Satisfied with my plan, I snuffed the candle. I then sighed as I realized I would have to wait till my eyes adjusted. Stupid lack of mana meant I couldn't use my light spell to find my way to the bed.

After stubbing my toes a few times trying to make it to my bunk and subsequently swearing in at least three languages, I finally made it and crawled under my blankets, thankful for their warmth. I hadn't noticed the creeping chill.

The heaters were broken again, it seemed. A problem for tomorrow.

As I started to drift off to sleep, the quiet chill of the night made me keenly aware of my missing core. I didn't feel the connection to it anymore, which was a mixed blessing I was beginning to realize, but I missed it. It hadn't really been all that long, in the grand scheme of things, but the absence of that little ball of strangeness made everything feel out of place.

My missing mana wasn't helping matters either. I sighed and burrowed deeper in my covers, hoping for the sweet relief of sleep to take me away. A lack of dark dreams would be delightful, too, for that matter.

Morning would soon come, and the next phase of preparations would begin in earnest.