The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (read novel full .txt) 📕

might not want to share that if it won’t happen for everyone.  These strange Abilities seem quite valuable too, so I can imagine that others might get jealous or ‘greedy’ about them; I don’t know what that would necessarily mean for us, but I do know that I really don’t want to find out.”

He hadn’t really thought about it that way, but it was commonly known that Raiders were a greedy lot most of the time.  Also that they didn’t really value the lives of those that were weaker than them, though there were rules in place that prevented them from just rampaging around killing people; most of those rules were self-regulated by the Raider Delving Clan itself, however, which made their village a great place to live most of the time.  There were rarely ever any Raiders that passed through or even near them – so most of the fear that the rest of the continent had to endure from their presence was practically nonexistent.

Of course, he was technically a Raider now, but Sterge couldn’t imagine being like the ones he had seen in the past or heard stories about.  He just wanted to live his life peacefully where he could farm and have a little piece of the world as his own…but delving through dungeons could be a fun side job, too.

“Well then, if that’s what the dungeon wants us to do, then I’m all for doing that.  Or not doing that, as it were.  It could’ve killed us in there and it didn’t, so I think that we owe it that much to at least consider its warning,” he agreed.  Gwenda just nodded her head and continued walking, but Sterge could almost imagine her mind spinning its wheels.

“So…do we go to Heftington today or tomorrow?” he finally asked.

“As much as I would like to rest and take the rest of the day off, I think we need to go today.  If we want that finder’s fee, then I think we need to do it before anyone else finds the dungeon; it’s only a matter of time before it’s found, and it’s also quite possible that someone saw us head up into the mountains all geared up as Raiders – or will see us coming back down,” she said, determination fighting her weariness in her voice.  “I’d like to rest for at least a few minutes when we get back to the village and get something to eat, though.”

His loud rumbling stomach voiced its agreement without Sterge even having to say a word.

Chapter 29

Tacca didn’t really care for the way the two Raiders ridiculed her poem, though she had to admit that it wasn’t her best.  Still, coming up with something “mysterious” and not a direct communication with the two Hill Dwarves within a few minutes was hard, and she did the best she could.  She hadn’t been planning on doing that at all – at least until she heard them talking and describing the Abilities they had received as part of their Bond with her Core.  When she found out what they really were, she feared for their safety.

Because the Abilities were way too beneficial to the right people and they might be taken advantage of…against their will.  She’d heard of Raiders using less-powerful members of their Clan being used as tools and sent ahead to test for traps before, though it was rare and didn’t happen for long when it was found; nevertheless, it did happen, and for even one of the Abilities that they both now possessed, she could see them being chained up for years and dragged along by groups of Raiders, used to further their own development.  If they went around blabbing their mouths to anyone who could listen about what abilities they now possessed, she might not ever see them again.

That thought made her…sad?  Maybe not sad; disappointed sounds a little better.

Regardless, she felt a tiny bit responsible for that outcome if it did happen, though now it was on them if they didn’t keep their mouths shut.  She did what she could to warn them with her “not so great” poem that she used her Carve Earth Option to quickly write in the dirt near her entrance, and that was about all she could do.  Tacca was just glad that Shale hadn’t been anywhere near to see it, because any types of communication between Cores and Raiders were considered against the regulations she was supposed to abide by.

She never understood the restriction herself, but she had dutifully learned it and was planning on following it with all of her Cores she Assisted.  Now that she was a Core, it made sense; the type of personal attention that was needed to communicate with a Raider meant that there was some sort of “connection” between them.  A “connection” wasn’t anything near what she felt with her Bond, of course, but just like what had happened here, it could lead to a reluctance to kill them.  Killing Raiders was a natural part of her existence and was expected from a Core – on both sides of the field; a dungeon that didn’t kill was considered too soft and therefore not challenging enough…therefore it deserved death, at least in the eyes of the Raiders.  It was a twisted way to look at the situation, but again, the punishment made unfortunate sense when you looked at it from their perspective.

“You’ve got some massive explaining to do, Tamara,” Shale said with a serious expression on his face.  He had followed her into the Core Room as soon as she was able to Teleport back and was trying to force her to tell him exactly what was going on with her actions; he was acting tough, but his Mood Clothes betrayed his anxiety, fear, and confusion with a riot of colors.  “You told me to wait while all of that was going on, so