A Dungeon’s Survival

Connie

It seemed Archie reading out his status to the adventurers was enough to earn him some credibility in their eyes. It was unfortunate that his capabilities, which up until this moment had remained completely unknown to outsiders, had to be revealed in such a manner, especially considering how unique some of them were, but if that was what it took to convince the group that killing Dungeon Cores was bad, it was a worthwhile trade as far as I was concerned. There was just one issue, a single question the apprentice alchemist wouldn't let go of.

“Who was the fifth tier individual?”

Not only did I have no clue how he'd known a level one hundred had shown up the day before; I hadn't even known that fairy was level one hundred until now. Sure, I assumed as much, but I had no way to definitively confirm it. The fact that this guy or, more likely, his master was able to tell was just unnerving. Regardless of that detail, though, one thing remained true. This was a problem.

I had nothing to gain by telling him that the Fairy Council paid me a visit. On the contrary, the way I saw it, telling him could only turn out poorly for me. I doubted their reaction to that news would be particularly positive, and if I were to do so, I might as well have just declared war on the fairies while I had their leader here. The end result likely wouldn't have been too different, and that put me in a bind.

I couldn't have Archie lie, and whatever magic he was under the influence of seemed to limit what he could say outside of the questions he was asked. Whatever answer I fed him needed to be at least somewhat relevant. Because of that, I opted for silence.

“Who was it?” Lawrence repeated, clearly unwilling to accept that.

Ugh, do I need to resort to plan B after all? I wondered.

The longer this went on, the more worked up the boy seemed to be getting, and my countermeasures could only work so long as I used them preemptively. For that reason, I'd already begun evacuating the Lizard Men into Archie's workshop with the exception of one that I'd ordered to fish me out of my pond. Loot was also on standby, ready to phase me through a wall I'd mostly constructed should it come to that, but once I gave the order, there wasn't going to be any going back. That left me uncertain of what to do, so for the moment, I continued watching the situation play out.

“Who was the fifth tier individual? I need to know,” Lawrence once again demanded.

This time, however, the alcoholic mage chimed in afterword, “Didn't he say he couldn't answer any more questions related to the Custodians?”

Yes! I cheered, Thank you Oct!

That was something I might be able to use. I only needed to figure out how to make it work, or at least I thought I did. Apparently, the drunkard mage was way ahead of me in that regard, though.

“Wait,” Lawrence responded, taken aback, “you're not suggesting …”

“Hey mushroom, this guy's not gonna stop asking until he gets something, so at least answer this. Did whatever he's talking about have something to do with the Custodians?”

Uh, my mind blanked for a moment, but I didn't let that stop me for long, Well, I mean that visit did end up mostly revolving around the ability Twelve gave me, so in a way, it kind of involved them? I know that's a bit of a stretch, but whatever. Hopefully that's enough. Hey, Archie, say, 'yes.'

I wasn't sure he'd be able to, but to even my own surprise, by technicality or not, it was accurate enough for him to say. I'd take it. Once this was all over, I was going to need to find a way to discretely thank that mage, though.

It was shocking how much her question had helped. Then again, maybe it wasn't. Given what I'd had Archie tell them, that might've just been the most obvious answer for them to come to. She was just receptive enough to the narrative I was creating to actually come to that conclusion where the others weren't.

Either way, the why of it didn't matter. It had worked to my benefit, so I put alcohol on the list of things to potentially have Noctis borrow from the town and moved on. I wasn't fully out of the woods yet.

“See? Easy,” Octavia gloated, breaking me from my thoughts.

Lawrence, in contrast to his boisterous companion, was left nearly as speechless as Archie had initially been when faced with his unreasonable demand. While he'd slowly been growing more and more stiff the longer we refused him an answer, once he actually got one, all of the tension in his body seemed to vanish like a deflating balloon. It looked as though that'd worked.

“Ugh,” he groaned, “I'm not cut out for this. Forget it. I'm just going to report all of this to Gyle and let him figure out what to make of it. I think we're done here.”

I couldn't help cackling to Archie upon hearing those words. We'd done it. I wasn't going to have to bunker up after all.

“Wait,” Lance spoke up, cutting my relief short, “are we really not going to take advantage of this situation to find out more about the Dungeon?”

“What?” Lawrence asked.

“I mean, if he's answering questions, shouldn't we at least ask about the Dungeon itself? Like that green Horned Draco. Is it a static monster or just a powerful one?”

Nope, was my immediate reaction, not happening. Sorry Archie. Vie, Pee, get ready to kill him at my word.

“Um, maybe?” Lawrence seemed unsure, his previous bravado nowhere to be seen, “That might cause problems, though.”

“What kind of problems?”

“Um, I did this because Gyle was pretty sure this Trenti was actually a powerful mage, possibly from Drulin. Now that that's in question, though, um, I'm not sure how much we actually want to antagonize him. He does seem to have some power over the other Dungeon monsters. Pushing him too far might make our future delves harder.”

“Isn't it a bit late for that?” Lance deadpanned.

“Uh …”

Lawrence visibly gulped. That was my cue.

“That entirely depends,” I had Archie answer Lance's question before Lawrence could.

“Oh?” the swordsman replied, turning his attention to him, “What on?”

“Well, for starters, are those actually the ingredients I requested in those bags? Also, as for that Horned Draco, if you try having me reveal his secrets like I did my own, there's nothing I could do to stop him from attacking you.”

“What about the bomb?”

“He has a base MIND of four points and doesn't take to threats well.”

“Definitely a static monster then,” Lance muttered.

That wasn't something I wanted them to have confirmation on, but it wasn't as though it could be helped at this point. It meant I was going to need to expedite some of my plans, especially if I wanted to keep Stein a secret, but I could work with it. Knowing that, I comforted myself with the knowledge that I'd undersold Adraugon's mind stat by ten points by not including his modifiers and moved on. After all he'd been through tonight, Archie deserved to get something out of this.

“My own forgiveness would also depend on what alchemical recipes you'd be willing to bribe me with,” I had him add.

“What does us not blowing up this Dungeon get us?” was the response to that demand, so I had my alchemist give an equally unreasonable one.

“Your lives and the information you've already gotten. If you continue to wave that orb around in the future, it will not deter us. Consider it mutually assured destruction. This Dungeon provides food for a certain Onikuma, and should it be destroyed, what with the local ecosystem being in the tatters that it is, the nearest food source would be your town. I'd think carefully about that if I were you.”

The swordsman's face went pale.

* * *

There was something incredibly ironic about the bear I'd threatened them with showing up for dinner as the group of adventurers made their way out. It served them right for showing up so late, and I took great joy in watching them squirm as they waited for it to finish its meal in front of them. It was a visceral scene and would hopefully dissuade them from trying something like this again in the future.

Using the Onikuma like that had been a gamble, but it had been a necessary one. If I'd left the scouting party thinking they could show up with that bomb whenever they wanted to extort me with it without consequence, I'd have been better off simply abandoning my Lizard Men and what I'd built so far in order to set up shop elsewhere. From the way the group looked at the bear, though, it seemed to have paid off.

“Master,” Loot hissed to me soon after they left, “I've returned.”

Well done, I praised her as my vision fell on the prize in her claws.

What would've been better than making sure the group didn't dare to use that bomb again in the future would've been to liberate it from them. Sadly, with the death grip Lawrence had been giving it on their way out, that wouldn't have been feasible to pull off. The pouch of powder he'd used on Archie, on the other hand, was another matter entirely, and it just so happened that the Onikuma had proved the perfect distraction.

As the adventurers' attention was focused on it, I had my familiar slip in, grab it, and Phase through the ground into the hidden tunnels below. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it yet, but it was a magical powder that forced someone to truthfully answer any question they were asked. The possibilities were endless.

Somehow, though, in spite of all I'd come out of this encounter with, I felt oddly dissatisfied. The way they'd been able to attack both Archie and me through a Trenti my alchemist was mind controlling was concerning. I hadn't even considered something like that being possible.

Still, I rationalized, at least I learned this early.

Had it been a different group that came equipped with something like that, I doubted talking would've been an option. Archie would've been out of the fight, and I would've needed to rely on my other defenders to handle things without him. Now that I was aware of that weakness, however, I could take steps to ensure it couldn't be exploited in the future. How I was going to do that, I wasn't sure yet, but I would figure something out.

Ugh, I sighed internally, yet another thing to add to my to-do list.

I took a moment to rest my overworked mind then. Archie was feeling better now that he was no longer being asked questions he couldn't answer, which was also a relief for me, but he was still under the effect of that powder. From the way Lawrence had spoken, I felt confident it would wear off, but for the time being, he was down for the count.

That left me with ample time to think and reconsider my options going forward. It was clear to me now that, as much as I'd feared the local baron, I'd still managed underestimate him. This ordeal would hopefully pacify him and the adventurers for the tine being, but I could see now that he was no less of a threat to me than the Onikuma or the Fairy Council was. That led me down a specific line of thought.

So, the Custodians helped a Hero in the past.

Twelve, despite her unsettling personality, had already helped me with the Fairy Council once, and her assistance had been substantial. If I needed a way to expedite my growth, she was likely my best bet. There was just one problem with that.

At least according to Seven, I wasn't supposed to contact the Custodians again unless it was about an error, and I wasn't planning on angering my only potential allies, especially when they could do away with my method of contacting them. That didn't mean I couldn't send them a message, though. It just meant I needed to encounter an error first.