The Dungeon Fairy: Three Lives: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (the false prince TXT) 📕

Sterge and the others went towards the front of the line, eliciting a few grumbles from those further back.  He could understand it, though, because the wait was a bit longer for the new section than the original one the Hill Dwarf was used to; it was both more dangerous and longer, which took a lot more time.

“Hey!  You can’t just cut in line!  We’ve been here for hours already waiting for our turn.”

Sterge and the others were physically stopped by the presence of the group at the front of the line, who saw them coming and stepped in to intercept them.  From their appearance and attitudes, the Hill Dwarf thought they were likely to be heading into the harder portion of the new dungeon, whereas he and his friends were going to tackle the easier portion.  Meaning, obviously, that Sterge did not want to tussle with these people, because they were all much higher Levels than his own party.

“We’ve secured this spot already from Jesper, so if you want to take it up with someone, take it up with him,” Evy responded, stepping in front of Sterge protectively.  He didn’t really desire her protection, but given the situation, he let her do as she would because hopefully it would be enough to diffuse the mounting hostilities.

It wasn’t.

“I don’t care; you weren’t on the schedule yesterday afternoon – I know, because I’ve been keeping up with it every single day in order to determine how quickly our turn would come – so the only way you could’ve gotten on the list was some sort of bribe,” the angry Raider spit out at them, plainly disgusted.  “What did you give him?  I wasn’t aware that the Clan rep was so corruptible, but I guess the right thing hadn’t been offered yet.  Does he like Elves, perhaps?”

Sterge had to hold Evy back from attacking the other Raider, which was actually quite tough; their Level difference made her quite strong, and it was only with Mordecai’s help that they were able to prevent her from attacking.  This is getting way out of hand; maybe if I step in and explain—

“That’s enough!  Do you even know who this is?” Yervan strode up, getting in between the two groups.  She was one of the few higher-Level Raiders in the area at Level 32, as most of them were up north, so she commanded some respect.  Especially since – as a Barbarian Class – she was large and powerful enough to pound any one of them into the ground with just her fists.

“Doesn’t matter, unless they’re some sort of royalty—”

“Which is precisely who they are, at least as far as you’re concerned.”

Sterge wanted to fade unobtrusively into the background, because he didn’t like where this was going.

“…What?”

“Do you know who built all of those inns, stores, and residences down the mountain?  These two—” Yervan pointed towards Sterge and Gwenda— “that’s who.  More than that, they were the ones who found this dungeon, and you should know what that means.  As this is the first time they have been here since it reopened, I think you should be a little more patient and respectful of who you talk to.  If you can’t, I can and will remove your group from the list and you can reapply.”

“You don’t have the authority!”

“Oh, yes, I do.  I’ve never had to exert that authority, thankfully, but I certainly possess the ability.  So, be good, and don’t test me.”

There was some very uncomfortable staring after that, as Yervan attempted to cow the belligerent group with her presence and authority.  Sterge wanted to disappear, as he was feeling a bit out of his depth here; it was one thing when he and his group had been cutting in line in front of the weaker Raider groups, but this was something else.  At his strength and Level, he almost felt like some sort of child waiting for his parents to stop arguing about whether or not he was allowed to do something, and the pretentious feeling of being called “royalty” only made the matter worse.  Neither he nor Gwenda were ones to take advantage of their privileges of being in charge of The Village very often (other than to help run everything), and the situation dealing with the dungeon only made them feel even more uncomfortable.

“Fine, they can go in.  I’ll be speaking with Jesper after this, though,” the angry Raider snarled, before stepping out of the way, pulling his group with him.  They also looked a bit disgruntled, though not at the same level as the instigator.

I have to learn his name later – and make sure we all avoid him and his group in the future. 

Thankfully, their wait for their chance to go inside wasn’t that long, as 5 minutes later they were able to leave the stares of hatred coming from those behind Sterge’s group.  They followed the Gnoll that had appeared to let them know the dungeon was ready, and then slid down the long slide to the bottom.  As before, Gwenda loved it and wanted to go again, as did Evy for some reason, but that would have to wait until the next time.  Though, with the response that we had this time, I think we should just add our names to the list normally, instead of taking advantage of our status. 

There was no large stone placard this time, which made sense, though Sterge had to admit that he was a little disappointed.  He could see that Gwenda was also eagerly looking forward to another communication with the dungeon, and when it wasn’t there she appeared a little down.  Regardless, that wasn’t really what they were there for.

At least, not yet.

Chapter 17

The advantages that Sterge and Gwenda possessed were quite powerful, especially now that Tacca