Chapter 4: Chapter 1: The Noble, the Paladin, the Elf and the Thief

It was dead in the night when Priscilla had changed to her sleepwear consisting of a navy blue dress that went down to her shins and was staring blankly at the ceiling of the room she was staying in. Despite the full moon, only a bit of light came through the window on top of her bed so there was a lit candle sitting on top of the nightstand beside her, though the wax was already more than halfway spent.

‘Dad…’

Her melancholic mood had to do with the letter she had received just a few hours ago. Her father who was presumably in the dwarven kingdom of Akrapocalis to the west was now missing, her mother’s note lacked any information regarding where he could possibly be, but in a previous conversation before leaving the mansion he spoke to Priscilla about visiting the town Arivaul. The place that she was.

“Why would he come to this town of all places? The family has no reason to be interested in matters about the dungeons anyway…” She sat with both legs crossed on the bed while grasping her nose on each side with both hands. “Despite my protests in the household, he seemed to support my decision regardless. Then why…?”

She picked up the letter once again, though it pained her to read a parchment written by her dreadful mother she couldn’t just ignore the fact that her father was indeed missing.

“That woman wouldn’t just write to me if it wasn’t something serious.” Upon giving another read she threw the letter on top of the nightstand beside her single bed and once again laid her head against the soft pillow. “It’s no use for me to go out to town at this hour… I should take this to the captain first thing in the morrow.”

She blew off the candle and stared at the ceiling attempting to take her mind off things to get some well deserved rest.

In the morning, despite her best efforts to get meaningful shuteye, she was still a bit tired from the previous day’s events. Especially regarding her father.

She got up and changed to her usual attire consisting of a white trench coat with blue details, a suit of chainmail underneath it and as for the actual pieces of armor, a metallic black chestpiece with bronze accents with a left shoulder pauldron bearing the warrior’s guild red shield symbol. For her legs she had limited protection with a white trouser, chain leggings, simple plates that covered her thighs to her shins and to finish it all off a pair of dark blue boots.

Upon heading downstairs she heard a familiar male voice calling out for her.

“Why good morning to you. Miss righteous.” Rhys seemed to be waiting for her to show up in the tavern’s main hub with a drink already served on his table. When Priscilla sat down without saying a word one look was enough for him to tell she wasn’t exactly in high spirits. “What happened to you? Bed’s not to your liking?”

She pulled out the opened letter and tossed it on the table.

“I received it yesterday after we parted ways.”

“Let me see… oh but before that.” He raised his left hand to get a waitress. “Get a steak for me. Rare.” He turned to her. “Do you want anything?”

“One glass of water please.”

“Very well. I shall be back shortly.”

With a short bow she walked off.

“Only water? You’ll starve later if you don’t eat well in the morning, you know.”

“I just need to finish my job faster, don’t you agree?”

He shrugged.

“In any case, what do you need help with?”

“My father’s gone missing. I suspect he’s in this town.”

“Right… you came from Akrapocalis, correct? I heard the place went through a lot of change in these years.”

He was reading through the letter as he spoke.

“My family attained noble status recently, yes, but that is one of the reasons I left the household.”

“Oho? I thought you’d stick around your pops for the easy living.”

“I would rather adventure outside than be imprisoned for the rest of my life in noble duties.”

After a pause, he finished reading the letter and simply glanced at her over the piece of paper.

“From what I could tell, your mother either doesn’t like you or she doesn’t care much about you and second, what makes you believe he’s in this town?”

“He mentioned it to me several times before I left the mansion. These mysterious dungeons that appeared everywhere across the kingdoms, the closest one to Akrapocalis was here in Arivaul and he told me I could earn a living if I were to become an adventure that’d brave the depths of it.”

“He surely was right.” Rhys put the letter back on the table just as the food and drinks he ordered arrived. “Thank you. Here’s the coins.” He handed it to the waitress, who bowed before leaving them. “Now that you showed me this letter, what is it that you want to do? Look for your father? The reward here seems reasonable, I’m sure the guild could help you with it if you’re willing to share the profits.”

“I’m not even sure where he is but I wouldn’t want everyone to go looking for him.”

“Meaning?”

She hit the table with her closed left fist.

“Listen, my family doesn’t have a lot of allies and I’m sure there are some out there that are biting on the chance to see them fall and despite me not being part of the household anymore, my father is still a well-known noble. I’m not about to put his life on the line because I have the coin.”

“Right, you nobles and the political riff raff.” He started to go through his breakfast, though it looked more like an entire meal rather than just an appetizer. “Very well, I can put a few trustworthy people to work on it, though I can offer no promises when he’ll be found. Worst case scenario he went inside the dungeon without anybody knowing.”

“I don’t think that would be the case… da- father’s never been one fond of adventuring.”

“Regardless, I’ll see the people for it. As for you, there are no jobs for now so I’d put your feet up and take a stroll around town, that should help you get rid of those bags under your eyes.”

“Huh?” She pulled out her broadsword and glanced down on the polished steel only to see two very noticeable darkened spots under her eyes. “You could’ve told me sooner!”

“Haha, now, now. Go ahead and take a breather. I’ll come looking for you if I get a new job for you.”

She clenched her hands and stood up with her face flustered before quickly leaving the tavern. Once she stepped out she noticed how bright it already was when she had to put her arm over her head to shield her eyes.

‘Akrapocalis never had the morning sun so bright like this, or maybe it was just the tall buildings covering it in the first few hours of the day…’

She glanced around the somewhat empty town square. A few early peddlers were already putting their wares on top of blankets laid on the tiled ground on the side where carriages wouldn’t normally pass through. Most of them consisted of handmade accessories, small weapons such as short swords and daggers, potions and other knick-knacks an adventurer would want to buy.

Either way, it wasn’t really anything different from what she used to see back in her home city and quickly made her feel bored. That was until her eyes came across the entrance to the dungeon in the middle of the square protected by two guards armed with spears.

“Hmmm… maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get some practice.”

Before she knew, her adventurous mind had already pulled her towards the mysterious looking staircase.

“Halt.” The left most guard walked to her once she approached. “This entrance is off-limits to those without- oh, I see you are with the warrior’s guild. Are you going in by a request?”

“Huh? Ah, no, I merely want to get some practice while I wait for my next job.”

The guard shared stares with the other who just raised his shoulders as if it was none of his business.

“In this case feel free to go in. Just be careful out there.”

He stepped back to his post, leaving the way open for her. Getting close to the entrance she immediately felt a chill go down her spine as an eerie breeze passed through her.

‘This place…’ She felt a certain feeling of dread building up inside of her just by being close. ‘Would dad really come all this way to this dungeon?’

“Hey newbie, don’t just stand in the way.”

The male voice that came from behind made her snap out of it. Without turning around she said while sidestepping out of the way.

“Ah sorry.”

“Gettin’ cold feet or somethin’? Haha!”

He walked past her, it was a young man carrying a greatsword on his back. Despite wanting to talk back she sighed and decided to ignore him as it would’ve been a waste of time to argue with someone like that.

She once again looked at the dark poorly lit staircase and held the scabbard of the broadsword with her right hand.

‘I won’t gain anything by standing around all day.’

Upon taking a deep breath she decided to head down the stairs. The place felt damp, it smelled like the early morning dew back in the dwarven citadel with a hint of clay and soot coming from the walls. Given how poorly lit the place was she had to resort to letting her left hand close to the sides of the staircase in case she slipped.

Thankfully nothing happened on the way down and once she reached the bottom of the stairs she noticed the lack of torches in the vicinity which instead was replaced by a strange natural light coming off from the ceiling.

“Wait…” Upon looking up she noticed it was as if the night sky was above her with a faint blue light imitating what would be moonlight. “But I am underground… right?” She scratched her head as she looked up the staircase and there was indeed faint sunlight coming from the entrance. “Huh… interesting.”

She flicked her right hand and a small orange flame appeared to illuminate the surroundings whilst unsheathing her blade with the other. It was a strange kind of darkness, as though it was dark she could see a few meters ahead of the flame’s light if she squinted her eyes hard enough. Upon taking a deep breath she felt the familiar smell of fresh grass, damp moss and wet tree trunks, not exactly something she’d expect in a place such as that.

‘An ecosystem inside a dungeon, it defies all reason… yet I can’t help but feel curious…’

Though her logical reason to go inside the dungeon was merely for training, her adventurous spirit couldn’t keep itself contained and urged to explore those unknown depths. Before she knew it, she already spent a few minutes walking around the maze-like ruins all without encountering a single foe or person. As idle thoughts filled her mind she began to wonder about other things.

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‘That reminds me, there was a man that came in first. I wonder where he went-’

Until she heard a brief noise coming from around the corner a few meters in front of her. Though it was a narrow corridor the fact that kobolds inhabited that floor meant they could fit about three side by side and swarm her in a flash so in that case she decided to step back and charge the spell in order to create a fiery explosion if it was necessary.

“Who’s there?!”

She shouted, but there were no replies. Not knowing what was waiting for her she slowly began to make her way back without taking her eyes off where she heard the sound from. Before she could move further away in a matter of seconds five dog faced bipedal monsters rushed from around the corner wielding wooden clubs and in that moment Priscilla considered blowing them to smithereens but their apparently relentlessness made her hesitate as the whole five of them continued rushing towards her, the one in the front even threw the club it was carrying to the side in order to drop on all fours in order to run even faster.

‘Dammit! I won’t be able to cast at this distance!’

Instead she slammed the spell against her sword and imbued the blade with vicious flames and at point she thought it would be enough to intimidate those beasts but they simply kept coming, the other four also dropped their weapons and began to run on all fours.

She clenched her teeth and held the broadsword with both hands in order to slash through them, but the kobolds simply ran past her leaving a confused Priscilla standing alone with her fiery sword in hand.

“Huh?” Looking behind her she just saw one of the kobold’s tails vanishing in the darkness before turning once again to where she was heading. “Wait a minute… if they are running, then-”

Before she could even finish her sentence the ground started to tremble in a rhythmic way much like footsteps, but those couldn’t possibly be from a human or even a demi-human. When she raised her sword towards the corner in order to illuminate it, she noticed it was about three times her size, a heavily armored dark knight wielding a greatsword of her size jogging towards her.

“Well now this is a worthy foe!” Instead of running, she dashed right at it whilst winding up her broadsword over her shoulder. “Scorching Blade!”

Upon swinging the blade, the fire spell imbued in the metal suddenly unleashed itself in a torrent of flames engulfing the knight entirely in a vortex of fire. For a second Priscilla thought the fight was over but to more of her surprise a sudden chunk of metal almost cleaved her in half if she hadn’t stepped out of the way in the last second. The sheer force of the impact sent her flying against the sidewall where she hit her back against it.

“Argh!” She noticed the piece of metal was actually the knight’s sword still engulfed in flames. As its user winded up for the killing blow. “You’ve got to be kidding me-”

She rolled forward to avoid a diagonal slash that broke through the brick wall and made the whole thing collapse, blocking the way where she had come from.

“Ngh… how are you still alive?!” She ran around behind it and held her right forward as she began to feel the mana gather in the middle of her palm. “Fiery ruination, destroy my enemies, Firebolt!”

The spell made the mana take the shape of a fire sphere the size of a tennis ball before it accelerated leaving her hand and hitting its back with enough force to send her foe face first into the rubble. But it was still moving after that despite the amount of damage it had suffered, which promptly made Priscilla take a few steps back.

“Tsk! This isn’t good…”

She charged another firebolt but before she could waste another spell a male voice called out for her from behind.

“Hey you! Stop fighting that thing and run this way!” This time it was a human sized knight wearing what seemed to be a suit of well worn armor and shield. “You won’t be able to defeat it with magic!”

Upon seeing the dark knight slowly get up, she didn’t have any other choice if not to run, though the shame of having to flee left a bitter taste in her mouth. Once she turned around the corner she noticed it wasn’t only a knight but an elf holding a longbow, wearing a kettle helmet, washed white gambeson and a small girl carrying a handmade torch while wearing nothing but a cloak that covered most of her body, Priscilla wondered for a second if she wasn’t too young to be inside that dreadful place but that was hardly the time to ask such question.

“Come on, let's leg it!” The knight said it while already taking the front in the group. “Don’t stop even for a second or that thing will stomp you dead!”

By following him, she was putting herself in unknown territory, but seeing just how much punishment the dark knight could sustain without even looking remotely injured left her without many options.

“Where are we going?!”

Priscilla asked while trying to keep up with the group, though despite her training, she was still a few meters behind the little girl that was somehow able to keep up with the knight.

“Where else?! The exit!”

The elf shouted whilst running at full speed behind the knight with an arrow readied on her bow. As they ran, a group of six kobolds blocked their path in a triangle formation. The three in front had wooden spears while the backline had clubs.

“Wait! We can’t charge right into that!

The spell fencer shouted.

“Stay behind me! I’ll make a way!”

While raising his shield, the knight began to put all his strength into that charge, plowing right through the kobolds and opening a path for the rest of them while the elf quickly dispatched those who ran after them with precise arrows whilst running.

After running for a few minutes they reached a spacious dome-like room with various intersections that branched out along stone stairs along the curved walls as if that place was made for theatrical performances.

“Is everyone alright?”

The knight asked. He seemed a bit tired from the exertion but he seemed mostly fine just like the elf and little girl as they regained their breaths. Priscilla on the other hand was gasping for air while having her hands hold both knees to support her own weight.

“I- I don’t think I ever ran so much in my entire life up until now- ha… ha…”

“I don’t see any visible wounds in any of us, Rein.” The elf reported to the knight supposedly called ‘Rein’. “It’s probably thanks to that reckless charge.”

“As long as everyone is fine…” He approached Priscilla with a waterskin in hand. “Need some water?”

“Huh?” She glanced up from the corner of her eyes as she had her head hanging low from the exhaustion. “No… no, I’m… fine I- just need a breather…”

He slowly put it away as the little girl tugged his torn cape.

“Ah, sorry, did you want some?”

She nodded twice before he handed it to her. While she took small sips, the knight sat down and started to clean an arming sword he carried on the right hand that Priscilla only noticed now since the blade was rather on the small side, similar to a short sword. He dried off the blood with a torn rag before he put it inside the bag he carried on his back.

“So huh…” The spell fencer glanced at both the elf and the knight. “Who are you?”

“I’m Reinhardt. She is Elaine.” He pointed at the elf standing watch with an arrow on the string of her bow. “We came here for a kobold bounty but found those things roaming around when we met her.” He then motioned with his head to the little girl sitting across him who had just finished drinking and was giving the waterskin back. “Her name’s Rionara. She doesn’t talk much though.”

‘What a strange bunch.’

Priscilla thought as she straightened her back after getting most of her stamina back.

“What about you?”

Elaine asked without taking her eyes off the entrances.

“Huh?”

“Your name.”

“Ah- I’m sorry, where are my manners? My name is Priscilla Avellion. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

She bowed slightly. The spell fencer wasn’t unfamiliar with the proper conduct of a noble, though it was beyond her acting like one in that very corner of the kingdom. Despite having the noble name and the looks of one she could not be bothered to act for appearances.

“Glad to know you, Dame Priscilla.” After finishing cleaning his sword he stood up and sheathed the weapon before putting away the waterskin Rionara returned. “Now… Elaine, do you know where we are?”

“No, but I can roughly guess where to go from here.” She pointed towards the exit perpendicular to where they came from. “Despite the darkness you can see the wall covering the beginning of this floor’s entrance.”

Priscilla squinted her eyes in order to try and see where the elf was pointing but she couldn’t see anything past the dome room.

“Then let’s move out.” The knight said while unsheathing his blade once again. “Rionara, are you okay to continue?” The little girl who was looking around the room turned at him and nodded. “Stay behind me, if you see anything, shout.”

She nodded again while accompanying him, stopping by Priscilla on the way to stare at her for a few seconds before continuing on.

“?”

Though puzzled by her stare, the spell fencer didn’t say a word and merely complied with the group. They moved on in a trapezium formation with Reinhardt and Elaine on the front while Rionara and Priscilla stayed in the back at arm’s length.

“It’s quiet… too quiet…” The elf muttered. “There was another group of adventurers down here not too long ago when we first met with her, they shouldn’t have gone far yet- hold.”

She suddenly stopped, prompting the whole group to do the same.

“Do you see anything Elaine?”

Reinhardt asked whilst adjusting the sword in his hand.

“Up ahead, someone is lying on the floor. I can’t confirm from here if they are dead or not.”

She pointed to the darkness up ahead, while she could barely see the intersection in the hall, neither of the others were able to discern what was beyond the torchlight without straying their eyes.

“A person?”

Priscilla questioned trying to look for whatever the elf had seen but without success.

“Yes, a priestess to be more specific. I’ll get a bit closer, stay here in case something pops out of that corner.”

The elf put her longbow over across her right shoulder while slowly making her way to the body while drawing a dagger from its sheath in her belt. Upon reaching the woman that was lying on her side, she noticed the lower half of her body was missing as if it was cleaved clean by a sharp blade.

“Goddess above…” Elaine muttered before taking a peek around the corner. She held her breath half expecting to be something there to ambush her but the halls were completely empty in every direction. She turned around to report to the rest of the group. “She’s dead. Cut down in half by something, probably that living armor from before.”

“Gods…”

Priscilla muttered under her breath. She recalled her near death encounter with the poltergeist from before and wondered what would’ve happened if she hadn’t dodged its attack. Would her body be found just like that? A motionless sorry corpse left to rot inside a dungeon.

“Do you see any tracks left by people or the armor?”

The knight questioned.

“No, not really. There are too many footprints here and many of them are from the kobolds. The rest… could be from this woman’s previous group. Though I can’t say for sure.”

“Right then. Let us keep our wits about us and keep moving.”

“One second, she still has a potion on her.”

The moment Elaine mentioned the loot it made Priscilla feel uneasy with how natural it all seemed to the elf.

“Isn’t it a bit too much to rob from the dead?”

She asked.

“I wouldn’t say robbing. She’s dead and there’s no helping it, even if I were to give her this potion it wouldn’t grow her legs back.” Elaine pocketed the red flask and when she finished she had found a small golden cross pendant. “Well… this could be valuable.”

After also pocketing the jewelry, she stood up and looked around one last time before regrouping and continuing heading straight through the hallway. As they walked past the corpse, Priscilla made a silent prayer to the dead priestess, despite not knowing her, it was the most honorable thing she could do in that situation.

“Elaine, do you see anything up ahead?”

Reinhardt asked since the corridor seemed to funnel out into an open area.

“The floor ends in grass, I think we are close to the exit.” She was cautiously walking towards the end of the corridor when she stopped in her tracks. “Did you hear that?”

She looked at the knight.

“Huh? I didn’t hear anything.”

Without any warning she laid low with her left ear against the ground.

“Something is coming…! Stay on your guard!”

The moment the elf stood up, Priscilla who was in the back of the group started to feel the ground vibrate.

“What is going on?” Once she looked the way they came from she noticed a faint glint in the darkness that seemed to be quickly approaching. “Hey… something is coming this way!”

Just outside the torch’s light, Rionara recognized the suit of living armor wielding an enormous ornate sword and as if controlled by instinct alone she decided to dash forward knowing full well what awaited her should it catch her.

“Hey Rio!” Reinhardt yelled the moment he saw the thief run but was quickly tugged by Elaine who also began to dart with a single glance behind them. “Another one?! How did it follow us here?!”

Both Reinhardt and Priscilla wasted no time in running away from the living armor. If anything it wasn’t something any of them could take on.

“Hell if I know! Just leg it like your life depends on it!” Elaine shouted as she mustered all the strength she had in order to not be trampled over by the living armor. “Run straight forward and our exit should be there!”

And indeed, after seconds of continuous sprinting the foot of the stairs came in sight along the glint of the torches hanging from inside the staircase’s walls. However right by the exit awaited a lumbering furred giant hunched over as if inspecting the exitway, a large kobold wielding a piece of wood to serve as a weapon and many dangling pieces of assorted armor pieces from various materials for makeshift clothing.

Its ears twitched and prompted it to turn around only for it to notice the small thief running right at it with a torch in hand. An ear splitting howl echoed the dungeon floor before it attempted to crush the thief with a singular overhead slam.

Thankfully for her sharp instincts, Rionara managed to just barely dodge the massive club but unfortunately for her lightweight body, the sheer air pressure caused by the impact was enough to send her flying sideways on the grass.

“Kah!” She shrieked once she hit the ground and rolled a few meters before coming to a stop with the torch flying out of her hand on the grass. A sharp pain struck her left shoulder as she attempted to get up but she simply couldn’t muster the strength to do so as if her arm wasn’t responding to her commands. “Nghh!”

Despite all the force she was putting there was simply no way she could use her left arm. The torch’s fire started to slowly spread around the grass behind her and everything around became lit on fire, giving off an unnatural orange glow to her surroundings. That is when she noticed the looming figure approach her with the club raised above its head.

Reinhardt, seeing the kobold about to crush her, yelled.

“Rio! Move!”