Dakota Krout - Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)

“What if you were married, would you tell your wife that?” Hans teased.

“Yes, she would have to accept it. Or I could bring her here and she could try it for herself.” Dale sighed contentedly.

“I don’t know, she may like it too much, and that could get expensive.” Hans winked at him. Just then, a busty lady walked over to them.

“Hello, I hope everything was as pleasurable as possible for you today.” She softly addressed them in a husky voice.

“Madame, everything was as wonderful as it could have been.” Hans heaped praise on her, “There is no better place to have a meal than at the Pleasure House . I don’t know how your cooks do it, but it is worth every copper.”

“I will send your compliments to the chef.” She laughed with a smile, “It has been too long, dear Hans. Visit again soon, I’d love to get to know your friend better.” She looked at Dale, considering. “Actually, I have a granddaughter about your age, and if I know Hans, you would be a good match for her.”

Dale was blushing as hard as Hans was laughing. “Ha! You always know how to tickle my sense of humor! No, Madame, he is a cultivator, and has no time for relationships. Maybe in thirty years.”

“Mm. A cultivator? So young! And already nearly into the D-rankings. Quite a catch indeed.” She murmured, glancing at him solicitously.

Dale was still too tongue tied to babble anything, so Hans again took over, “Such a gracious host! Maybe the next time we visit we can meet this lass?”

“When might that be?” She challenged archly, expecting him to say something fancy and disappear for years again.

“Ah, when the wind blows us back to this fair city.” She * humphed * and started walking away when Hans surprised her, “Luckily, that may be soon, as a portal just opened to this young man's home.”

“A new portal? So you are training at the new dungeon, is it true that it is… unaffiliated? The Essence? Anyone can absorb it?” She seemed suddenly nearly desperate, which she tried and failed to hide.

“Yes!” Dale finally loosened his tongue and responded too loudly. He coughed, “Uh, yes, it is. So far.”

“Do you know any way that I could send my granddaughter there to train as a cultivator?” Madame demanded.

“Uhh.” Dale looked at Hans for help.

“Also, I could not send her there alone, I would need to establish a restaurant there myself. I am sure you all needed to work out land management there, have you met the owner? I hear he is allowing businesses to set up for a beastly amount of money, but I would still go.”

“Where did you hear that from?” Dale thought he was being fair to people.

“Members of the Mage Guild eat here regularly, some of them were the first through the portal, and they came here with their gossip.” She proudly announced. “I hear that the landowner is even making the church pay a tithe to him . Then he refused the services of the portal Guild until they gave into his outrageous demands. Bet you didn’t know that , did you?” She finished a bit smugly.

“No. No, I didn’t.” Dale dejectedly replied.

“I’ve met him, and I think he was being more than reasonable, Madame. The Mages tried to browbeat him into submission, and the Church offered up a small percentage of its profits for prime realty.” Hans admonished her, “In the end they both got fair deals based on what they could pay.”

“Oh! So you actually do know him then? Do you think he would welcome the idea of a Pleasure House in the area?” Madame inquired, not seeming to notice Dale’s introspective look, “Or a team that would allow a young lady to train with them?”

“He’d go for the restaurant if you fed him and offered a fair deal.” Dale muttered hollowly. “I don’t know any teams but my own so…”

Hans cut in darkly, “Madame, you know that to get on a Guild team you need to be in the Guild. I wouldn’t trust another team with the proper care of a Lady in a place where there are ways to make a body disappear, without worry, in a way no one will question.”

“You are right of course. I’ll start with the dining house then. Who is in charge there right now? Jeffrey?” Madame seemed to understand that these two wanted to be left alone, so tried to hurry the conversation along.

“Frank.” Dale droned monotonously, all happy thoughts of food long past.

“Well, that’ll make this easy then.” She laughed, “He can’t resist me at all, and the landowner will assuredly want good food available for his tenants.”

“I’m sure he will.” Dale mumbled, earning an elbow to the ribs and a glare from Hans.

As Madame walked away, Hans turned curiously to the usually cheerful young man, “Dale, what is the matter with you?”

“Does everyone think so poorly of me?” Dale blatantly questioned him.

Hans eyed him, finally deciding not to lie, “Only those who don’t know the facts, or you.” He admitted reluctantly.

Dale looked at the ceiling and exhaled noisily, “So... Everyone.”

“Lad, most people don’t know you are the landowner, but are still jealous that you make it into the dungeon every day, when they get in maybe once a week. Others see your fine armor, not the man inside it, and covet that. People are always unhappy with those that have better fortune than them. You’ll be fine, just give it time. The portal being open will let everyone get around much easier, that should relieve tensions quite a bit. After all, people can show up on their scheduled day to train, not just sit around on their thumbs feeling sorry for themselves.” Hans lectured, trying to force Dale out of his funk.

“Now, pay this tab. All that advice isn’t free after all.”

Dale nearly choked as he noticed the amount on the bill. “You’re outta your mind! Hell no!”

“Ok Cal, that was amazing. I didn’t think the inverse of the Rune would be that effective.” Dani was looking at the bubbling, hissing crater that was all that remained to show a group had been standing there recently.

I was still basking in the glorious flood of Essence that had filled me. I thought at her languorously, sipping delicately at the Essence storming around me. Her words clicked after a second, For some reason, there had been a short period of time where no one was entering my influence. It had coincided with what sounded like a thunderstorm overhead, though the sky was clear from what I could see. In that short window of opportunity, I was able to make some hasty changes, including a new trap.

“Well, I wouldn’t have thought of it, that was a really ingenious trap.” Dani praised me, playing to my ego.

I chuckled with her.

The trap was a bridge in the tunnel system that had to be crossed. On the bridge was a series of Runes across it that pushed the acid away, and held the acid suspended to the sides of the bridge. If someone stepped directly on one specific pressure sensitive pattern at the midpoint between the acid ‘walls’, the stone the runes were on would flip and the corrupted core would then pass its energy to the inverted Rune. I was rather happy to have found a use for my water corruption cores.

When the inverted Rune was powered, the suspended acid sloshed across the entire structure, flooding it instantly. The Runes were nearly indestructible when filled with corruption, as far as I could tell, and so I was able to easily regrow the bridge around those Runes when it was destroyed, as I did now. Sadly, the fallen group of adventurers had only standard gear compared to what I had been seeing, nothing magical, and nothing fancy. Just plain, boring metal and leather. Woe is me, that those I slay cannot be more financially stable.