Is it wrong to cultivate in the dungeon?

The village had gone quiet. The air stilled, and time seemed to stop for a moment as the Ishtar adventurers and I stared at each other.

I felt something spark in the back of my head when I heard that name. Ishtar. There was a vague sense of familiarity, but I couldn’t quite remember any stories off the top of my head about her.

I don’t even remember what pantheon she was from. Egyptian? Or was it Babylonian? It was from that area of the world. I just couldn’t remember where. Meaning I didn’t know what to expect from her.

Zeus and Hera were easy. The Greek gods were the most well-known names, and their stories were the most widespread. And man, those stories painted them in a bad light.

From Zeus having children with women who weren’t given much of a choice in the matter, to Hera constantly trying to kill those women and children, since they are a result of Zeus' cheating on her.

If they were even a little like they were in the myths, then that was too much for me to want to touch. So it was an easy decision to avoid interacting with anyone from those familias and run away on sight if possible.

If I knew anything about Ishtar, then I would make a similar decision. And I know her name rings a bell somewhere in my head, but nothing is coming up.

The adventurers seemed pleasant enough. They didn’t immediately attack me for taking their job, and the one who was annoyed already calmed down and greeted me.

It shouldn’t hurt to be friendly with them. Also, looking at the Qi bouncing off of them, they were only level one. So I should be able to fight them off if things do turn south.

Alright, let’s give this a shot.

“Nice to meet you as well, Layla,” I smiled and said. “What would you like to talk about?”

“Oh, I just wanted to meet the man who went and killed the monster encampment all by himself,” She said before looking me up and down.

“Especially without a weapon on him. Are you a marital artist?” She added after a few moments, and I had to suppress a flinch when I heard martial artist.

Those words just summoned a visceral reaction from me, despite knowing that she is probably just asking if I punch things.

“You guessed it. I guess I just really like punching monsters in the face too much to switch to anything else,” I joked and got a giggle in response.

“Haha, I guess that makes sense. Still, I'm not sure I would be able to deal with the mess that would be made. Just looking at all the blood on your clothes makes my skin itch,” Layla said, and I had to bite back the comment that she should wear more clothes if she didn’t want her skin to get dirty.

That would be rude and probably offend them. Judging by all the Amazons that I've met up till this point, they just liked dressing like that. Must be a cultural thing.

Still, it was a little distracting.

“Well, you get used to it. I was actually waiting here for the bath to be ready. Afterwards, I was planning on going back to Orario,” I explained and picked at a flake of blood on my skin.

The wet rag had cleaned up a lot of it, but there were still some splotches around that made me itch. I really hope they are still getting that bath ready.

“Oh, that’s a shame. I wanted to talk with you over dinner. I have to ask, why did you do it? The guard said you weren’t planning to take the money, so what compelled you to help out?” She asked while tilting her head and smiling.

“Ah, I just wanted to help out. It didn’t feel right leaving the village alone when there were so many monsters close by. I didn’t know when the adventurers were gonna get here, so I thought I should just take care of them myself to avoid any accidents. I only wanted a pot from here. And a bath,” I explained after a few moments.

“Then, can we keep the money?” The twin with the left braid, Mira, spoke up at that moment with a hopeful smile.

“Mira!” Her sister, Lina, admonished her with a high-pitched squeal and a shove. “You can’t just ask that! That’s rude!”

“What! He said he didn’t care about the money, so that means we can have it. He stole our job despite us coming all the way out here. We deserve something!” She shouted, only to shut up at the glare Layla sent her way. Wow, scary.

“Ahem, I apologise for my…teammate’s outburst. However, she does bring up an important point, and one that I would like to discuss with you.” Layla cleared her throat and smiled at me again.

“The money?” I guessed only to get a nod back. “As I said before, I didn’t do it for the money. So long as the village is safe, then I’m happy.”

“My, that’s certainly noble. Very heroic, too, Leon. But I can’t accept that. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I stole all the money from you after not doing any of the work. My conscience won’t allow it,” Lalya said dramatically, and I frowned in confusion.

“So… you don’t want any of the money?” I asked only for Layla to give a shy smile.

“Ah, unfortunately, I can’t let that happen either. My superiors would be very upset with me if I showed up empty-handed after coming all this way. Hence, I was hoping we could work out a deal,” Layla said softly and stepped a little closer.

“Hm, what kind of deal?” I asked bluntly. It didn’t sound like a bad idea. Sure, I would lose some money, but I planned to give it all up anyway to not start a fight with them in the middle of the village.

If I could settle this peacefully and walk away with some cash and my pot, then I was all for it.

“I need to take some of the money back. Not all of it, mind you, since it was paid by the monster. I can just tell my superiors that there was less than expected. And, in exchange for letting us have some of the money, I could make it up to you another way,” She stopped once she was in arm's reach and leaned a bit forward.

I looked past her and noticed the other three had gotten closer too, though they changed their poses. The twins looked to be arguing about something that I couldn’t hear, and Dalia just seemed to be staring off into space.

“I–” I went to say something, only for her to put her hand up in a wait gesture.

“You don’t have to give your answer right now. You said you wanted a bath, right? Why don’t you go and take one before giving me your answer? That way you can think about it for a bit,” She said before shifting back and walking toward her companions. Official source ıs ⓝovelFire.net

“I’ll be waiting for your answer,” she said over her shoulder before leading her group away from the Chief’s house. I was left standing there very confused and puzzled.

I guess it was good that I avoided a fight. Though getting in a fight would have been easier. How it would have been easier, I don’t know, but I feel like things aren’t as simple as they seem.

Still, the deal seems nice. I don’t know what she’ll offer me as compensation, but maybe it would be some jewelry or something. Hell, I’d even take directions to a good job.

Actually, that’s a perfect idea. I’ll just ask her if she knows anywhere that’s hiring. Preferably a clinic, but if not, then that’s fine too. So long as I get a job, then I’ll be happy.

It was just as I decided what I was gonna ask for that I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw that Alm had arrived.

“A-are they gone?” He asked hesitantly and glanced around.

“They didn’t leave the village if that’s what you mean by gone. We still have some things to talk about, so they’re hanging around for a bit,” I said, and Alm’s face fell. Oh, guess he doesn’t like them all that much.

“I see…” He said quietly before he looked at me, “The bath is ready if you would still like to take one.”

“Oh, great! Please, lead the way,” I said excitedly, and followed Alm as he led me away from the chief’s house and toward a separate building.

Walking in, it turned out to be a bathhouse. I was a little surprised that the village would have a bathhouse, considering how small it was, but hey, whatever floats their boat.

Alm showed me a large wooden tub filled with warm water and gave me a spare set of clothes before leaving. I thanked him and took a look at the room.

The room was mostly taken up by the tub, with a small window high up so that you couldn’t just stand on your toes and peek in. Besides that, there was a shelf with some soap underneath the window, a basket for clothes, and a hook for some towels.

I was just excited to finally get this blood off me. I stripped down quickly, tossed my bloody clothes into the dirty hamper, and dove into the bath.

The warm water helped relax me as I leaned back and closed my eyes. For a brief moment, I forgot about the outside world and was just left with peaceful bliss.

Unfortunately, I had to come back to reality and start washing up. Then I had to go and deal with the Ishtar adventurers. Something that I didn’t quite want to do.

It wasn’t that they were rude or mean. They were perfectly polite, and Lalya seemed interested in talking and getting everything resolved peacefully. It seemed perfect.

So why the hell was I feeling so uneasy about interacting with them? Something about them just made me uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable in a way that I couldn’t put my finger on, either. That’s what really concerned me. Usually, I had enough of a frame of reference that I could tell why I was feeling like that.

Like, if they were dangerous in a fight, that would feel a certain way. But they weren’t. I was pretty confident I could beat them if it came down to it. Even if it was four on one, they just weren’t that strong.

And the feeling wasn’t strong enough for me to justify just avoiding them completely either. If I were getting bad enough vibes, then I wouldn’t even interact with them. I just take my pot and be on my merry way.

I kept thinking about this as I started to lather up and scrub myself down. After that, I put the soap back on the shelf underneath the window and started to rinse off.

Maybe my discomfort was physical rather than mental. I’m sure once I’m done bathing, I’ll feel better. If not, then maybe I could put my finger on why I’m feeling like this afterwards.

I kept rinsing, slowly turning the bath water a dirty brown when I heard a sound come from the direction of the window.

I turned to where it came from, thinking the soap I used had slipped off the shelf, only to see the soap still there. Everything was exactly as I left it. So what fell?

Did it come from outside? My hearing had gotten better after I started cultivating, so maybe I just heard a passing village drop their purse or something.

Eh, it doesn't matter. The window was too high up for a normal person to peek from the ground. You’d have to climb up on the roof and lean over the edge to peek inside. And if someone did do that, the only thing they would have seen was my back.

Who would want to peek at me in the bath is a mystery that would never be resolved, though. I’d never be able to be an offended, jaded beauty that threatens to kill the protagonist after they accidentally get launched into the random spring where they are taking a bath.

Heh, that cheered me up a bit. Also, now that I don’t have all that gunk sticking to me, I feel a lot better. I guess a bath and some time to decompress were all I needed.

I got up from the water and quickly dried off. After debating it for a moment, I decided to wear the clothes that Alm gave me rather than just using the ones in my ring. Shouldn’t let goodwill go to waste.

Alright, let’s go deal with the Ishtar adventurers. Shouldn’t be too hard, just ask where a good place for a job is, and be on my way.

Oh, and my pot. Can’t forget that.

=============================

All done. Y’all ain’t gonna believe this but as soon as I posted the last chapter, my laptop keyboard broke. My laptop is the only thing I can write with so I put a stop to it for the last few weeks until the replacement part came in and it could get fixed.

Then the replacement part had a defect, and a good ten keys didn’t work, so another replacement part was shipped and installed. Which brings us today, when I just picked up my laptop from the shop and typed this chapter real quick. Cause I was feeling really antsy to write after so long of not being able to.

I’m not gonna make any statements of being back this time, for fear of jinxing things. But that’s where I’ve been for the past few weeks. Frustratingly enough, I still don’t have much time to write since the holidays are upon us, but everything will pass soon enough.

Thanks for reading and commenting. I really like reading everything that ya’ll say, so thank you for that.

Until next time, friends!