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

“Are you sure you wanted to stay in here?  The Village is, like, yours; I would think you would’ve rather have stayed there,” William asked as they walked.

The truth was, he would’ve preferred that, especially after they managed to find shelter for everyone not inside the mountain there, and everyone had plenty of food to last until far past the thaw and spring rolled around – thanks to the plots of soil that had proven to be extremely potent.  Not only did anything they planted in the “magic dirt” (as many people liked to call it) grow and be ready for harvest in 24 hours – which was amazing by itself – but the soil never seemed to lose any of its potency.  Every once in a while in the fields nearest the village, they had to leave some fallow, leaving the remnants of previous harvests to decay into the ground and make it usable again.  This dirt, however, seemed to always be ready to go, with no loss of performance, no matter how many crops were planted.

It was a farmer’s dream come true.

Working around the clock, they were able to plant, periodically water (which required a lot of water for each harvest cycle), and then harvest all of the crops in a rotation, so that there were always some growing or needing to be harvested.  That had led to an almost endless line of wagons being brought into the cave system, which was brought back to The Village for the residents and Raiders staying there.  In fact, transporting so many vehicles and the nearly constant foot traffic had ended up creating first a pathway, and then a road of sorts in between the grand Hall and The Village.

Therefore, not only did both areas have more than enough food to get through the winter, but they actually had to ship some few wagons north because they realized that it would spoil before they managed to consume it.  As a result, things were going to be fine in all of the buildings, their home, which was why Sterge would’ve liked to spend the month there.  It was familiar, after all, and he liked it there.

But, unfortunately, responsibility crept up and nipped that thought in the bud.

“You know why we have to be here, William,” Gwenda said, pointing to herself and Sterge.  “But if you don’t want to stay here, there’s still room—”

“And miss out on staying inside of a dungeon for a month?  Now that’s just crazy,” Evy said with a straight face, but Sterge could hear the humor in her voice.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it for 50 gold coins…100, maybe, but certainly not 50,” Mordecai joked.

Sterge had to admit that they were glad their group had decided to join them, because otherwise it would’ve been extremely boring without them.  Not only were they fun to be around, but they were also generally good people, and they had worked hard over the last month to help get their temporary home inside the mountain into shape.  The same could be said of many of the other Raiders, though for the most part they had worked because they had no choice if they wanted somewhere warm to stay when the very air seemed to freeze come winter.  Evy, Mordecai, and William, though, wanted to help, regardless of the benefit that might come from it.

As for why Sterge and Gwenda had to be there, staying in the mountain over the winter, it was more a matter of they couldn’t not stay there.  It was them that had a connection with the dungeon, and Gwenda (logically so) wasn’t sure what would happen with all of these people trapped inside without someone being able to communicate with the dungeon.  If something went wrong and they weren’t there to decipher what the dungeon’s presence wanted from them, then it could be a disaster for everyone involved.

Naturally, they weren’t going to let something like that happen if they could be there to prevent it.

As they were walking toward their room, to make sure everything was still prepared for them, something caught his attention at the end of the Hall.  A small crowd had gathered near the back wall, though it wasn’t near the tunnel leading to the plots of soil there; instead, they were looking at something that he couldn’t see from his current location.

“We better check that out.”

A quick jog down the long Hall brought them to the crowd, which had slightly grown in number.  When Sterge finally got to the front, Gwenda on his heels, he immediately saw what the commotion had been: there were a pair of small, Hill Dwarf-sized holes in the wall.  Not just the general dimensions of a Hill Dwarf, but the exact dimensions of both Sterge and Gwenda.  It literally appeared as if someone had taken the two Hill Dwarves and then smashed them through the wall.

He looked at Gwenda and nodded toward the holes, instinctively knowing what they needed to do.  Of course, having an audience wasn’t ideal, but they couldn’t really hide it now.  Fortunately, having the special designation as the ones who had found the dungeon in the first place, there were rumors abound concerning a special connection with it; normally that would be a little concerning, but ever since the “miracle in the mountains”, it helped to at least partially explain how it appeared, and why Sterge and Gwenda were there staying with them.  It wasn’t quite celebrity status, yet – which he would prefer to avoid – but this certainly wouldn’t help with his preferred anonymity.

Loudly, he stated to the crowd, “I think we need to check this out.  We’ll be right back.”

Without hesitation, he pulled Gwenda along and