Dungeon Core Academy: Books 1-7 (A LitRPG Series) by Alex Oakchest (book suggestions txt) 📕

had come to see Warrane as a friend, what with his unbending desire to restore honor and his utter willingness to serve me, as well as the Soul Bard book club we had started. But things had changed. The Wrotuns were my enemy.

“Brecht, don’t let him take another step.”

Brecht the kobold bard faced Warrane now. He held out his giant tambourine. He fixed Warrane with a menacing snare, and then began to tease out a drumbeat. He did this slowly, as if he was trying to make it seem sinister.

“Lesson learned,” I said. “Never use a bard to make a threat. Warrane, I’m sure you appreciate that you’re wildly outnumbered here, so you can spare me a show of force by agreeing I could kill you if I wished.”

Warrane, to his credit, didn’t back down from meeting the gazes of the dungeon creatures. “This leaf understands.”

“And furthermore, you can probably understand my reluctance to let you stay, given you have just come from a meeting of your people where it was agreed to kill me.”

He looked surprised now. “Core Beno knows? How?”

“I have my ways.”

“Deconsssstructed crysssstal dusssst,” said Maginhart.

“Shut up, kobold. You’re meant to leave things vague and unspoken. That’s how a dark lord fosters an air of mystery.”

“Sssorry,” said Maginhart, then spoke to Warrane. “Hisss Dark Magnificence hassss his wayssss.”

“This leaf had come to warn him of Godwin’s plan. To help him escape the cavern,” said Warrane.

“Really?”

Warrane nodded. “He has always served Core Beno properly in the time he has known him, has he not?”

“That’s true, but these are your people. As much as we enjoy having you around, that simple fact precludes trust.”

“This leaf’s people have called him a rotten leaf from a blackened branch for most of his life. He has worked to restore honor. Taken the tasks no other leaves would consider. Yet, honor does not come. Only Core Beno has ever treated him as an equal.”

“I’m an ass, Warrane. I’m a murderous lord of a dungeon. I kill heroes. Even lads your age, sometimes. Maybe I didn’t insult you just because your parents left this stinking pit, but I’m no angel of light, let me tell you.”

“This leaf believes that if Core Beno leaves by the surface door right now, his kobolds could carry him away before Godwin and the other leaves get here.”

“We’ve already walked down that road warren. As good as your intentions are, it won’t work. Nevertheless, you bring up a good point. I can’t leave this place without Galatee’s permission. But all of you, my kobolds and my weird fungi creatures, you can leave, if you wish. As your creator, I can grant that.”

There was a murmuring now. Following Godwin’s lesson, I waited for it to die down.

“This will be a bloody battle,” I said. “I know I should be ruling you by utter tyranny, but a core cannot change who he is. Or some crap like that. All I’ll say is this; I have come to regard you as friends, and I don’t want to see you give your lives unwillingly. Anyone who wishes to live can leave now with my blessing.”

Every kobold in the room shook their heads, which was what I’d banked on. They were loyal to me since I treated them right. By giving them a chance to leave before the battle, I had doubled their loyalty now that they had willingly chosen to fight.

All except one.

“Thanks, Dark Core, Magnificent Gem, whatever you like to be called,” said Shadow, running to the room exit. “Thanks for the roll in the hay, Tomlin. A good way to pass the time. See you around, chums.”

And then Shadow was gone, headed north through the dungeon and toward the exit door. Tomlin watched her leave, looking like a sad puppy.

“Right,” I said. “Back to matters of life and death. First, getting a message to Jahn. Who’s going to sneak through enemy lines?”

“This leaf will.”

“I have a better idea for using you, Warrane,” I said. “Sorry, not using you. I’m thinking of you as a dungeon creature now. Anyway, you can be of better service doing something else. Do you think you can free Gary and Wylie from their cells?”

“The cells are the food larder,” said Warrane. “We have little crime, so no need of real cells. Chef Buirlion keeps the keys. This leaf can get them.”

“Good. It strikes me that an easy way to stop this would be to have my miners fill in the tunnels that lead here, and then the Wrotun can’t reach me.”

“How would Core Beno get a message to Core Jahn if the entryway is sealed? How would Gary and Wylie return to him? Besides, our own miners would eventually get through.”

“Damn it. Who will go inform Jahn?”

“I will,” said a voice.

It was Shadow. She walked back into the loot room, head held high, shoulders straight. “I have decided that it would gain me more honor to help you, after all. Not through affection, but a sense of duty. I am a kobold of my word. A kobold of honor.”

“You’re a serial escape artist,” I said.

She nodded. “Yes, and, um, Seekers are approaching the surface door, so I couldn’t escape that way, anyhow.”

“Seekers?” I said. My blood pressure went through the roof then. Or it would if had had blood, veins, or a heart.

Luckily, cores are made to withstand pressure. Lots and lots of it.

“Shadow, go warn Jahn about the Wrotun. Warrane, if you can get Gary and Wylie out of their cells, you’ll forever be known as First-Leaf Warrane in my dungeon.”

Shadow gave a theatrical bow. I could feel the sarcasm emanating from it. Then she smiled at Tomlin, who scowled.

“Something the matter?”

“Tomlin is loyal. He hates disloyalty to the clan. He would like to announce that