Dungeon Builder's Harem Book 03 Ch. 02

Chapter Two

"I can now confess something, Lord Leo," the elf said as she rose. She still hadn't put on her top, her small breasts surprisingly distracting.

My cock throbbed in my robe making me regret my stance. I mean, she had offered...

No, no. I don't need to take advantage of a woman desperate for knowledge from me.

"What?" I asked.

"Though the fact that Halia Vorbia did defect to your cause and you profess to be a protector and not a conqueror of Astovin Village, are good signs of your benevolence, they are not the reasons I chose to come here. If you were not located here, I would not have bothered coming."

That stung.

I felt my ego deflating more than a bit. I thought I had finally made some progress in my goal to forge peace between dungeon builders and the outside world, but to learn that she just came for another reason, well, that was more than a little disheartening.

I wanted to end this war. 4000 years of tragedy. Of dungeon builders coming to this world and being the enemy. Some had certainly earned it, but how many were like me? They were forced to fight. To kill or die. What did that do to them? What acts would survival drive them to commit? When Halia had been petrified, I had gone to war with the Twins. I hadn't wanted to protect the dwarves they had enslaved.

I wanted to kill Ziamili so I could steal his power and save her. I wanted to murder for the first time.

Not self-defense.

I had hated it. And I feared it. What would the future mold me into? Would I lose my humanity and become a real tyrant because of all the pain and anguish that was heaped upon me? I had my monster girls to support me. If I could keep loving them, keep from seeing them as just tools to be used and disposed of, I believed I could stay human.

I purposefully kept weak monster girls like Du around. She was a Level 1 Monster Girl. I could retire all the wildhounds, will o' wisps, satyrs, oozes, and mermaids and then replace them with more Level 2 monster girls like arachnes, quetzalcoatls, werebears, and hippocampi. But I had made Du and the other Level 1 monster girls. I had loved them. Fought with them. They had died with me. Another dungeon builder would get rid of them.

If I did that, I would become a monster.

The world might see Du as my weakness, but I saw her as my strength. My anchor.

"What is supposed to be so special about my dungeon?" I looked around as I rose out of my momentary depression. "I mean, it's a dungeon that I created."

"No, no, this location. You appeared in a fortuitous spot." Something like excitement animated her face. "The original dungeon is supposed to be buried in the bones of these very mountains. That place may hold information. Of course, studying you and learning your insights into why you were summoned will be fascinating, but you clearly do not have the answers else you would not have written to the library."

"The original dungeon?" asked Halia. "Here? I have never heard that. I grew up in the shadow of these mountains. There are no local legends in Astovin about the original dungeon being here."

"Four thousand years is a long time to forget that," I pointed out. "Why do you think that it's here, Fara?"

From her black pouch, which wasn't that big, like a very large dice bag, she plucked a leather-bound book that was twice as big. I blinked and realized it was like a Bag of Holding from D&D. She flipped it open and then smiled. "Here we are."

O' Maidens tremble,

From the depths of the earth came,

From beneath the mountains north,

the Villainous Keeper of Dungeons,

Meskalamdug the Flaming Devil.

Eyes of flame, heart of coal,

He ravaged and despoiled.

From the north, his fire burned

Myrecilla fell to his wrath first.

Lyrialiasa smote in ruin.

Great Kharabarnath riven.

A great cry was given,

the peoples suffering demanded answers.

"Why?" they screamed as flames roiled.

"I seek the 'Word of my Father'," he would answer.

"The Incarnation herself."

As hope did fell and ash did fall,

hope arose from hope divine.

Twelve and twelve they numbered,

Gods of might and Goddesses fair.

With their blessings bright did heroes rise.

At Star Bright did they fight.

At Star Bright did he die.

Meskalamdug the Flaming Devil extinguished.

But he was not the end.

Only the beginning.

More did come. More did plague.

But in mountains north, in caverns deep,

Did the first arise.

Did the first exist.

The musical recitation of the poem had me blinking. Shaking my head. The words were... intriguing. "Word of my Father? What does that mean?"

"It is only found in this poem," said Fara. "It seems to be a title for the Incarnation. I could not hazard as to why or who her father might be."

"Word..." I furrowed my brow. "That's how I create. I use Words. The name of a monster girl or the words to a spell. Souleen, my piece of the Incarnation, even called herself the Soul of the Word."

"Fascinating," Fara said, her ears twitching. "Yes, yes, this will be profitable studying with you."

I glanced at Halia. "And have you heard of Meskalamdug?"

"Well, yes, he was the first dungeon builder, or so the legends say." Her brow furrowed. "I had never heard he appeared here."

"But the clues are all in the poem," said the elf. "The poem stated, 'from beneath the mountains north,' and that has led me to believe that these peaks are that location. That Meskalamdug's dungeon lies beneath our very feet."

"Surely can't be the only mountains north," I said, shaking my head. "We don't even feel that far north in the world. I bet there are mountains north of here."

"Oh, there are," said Fara. "But these are the mountains north of Myrecilla, which was the first city burned. That implies it was the nearest city to where Meskalamdug awoke. I have been... chastised for taking the poem too literally. It is the work of a bard's fancy, something created in the centuries that followed Meskalamdug's death. It is not a primary document. It is not even a secondary document. It is a work of art and not scholarship. That is what they told me. I disagree.

"I propose that the first dungeon lies beneath our feet and that you, Lord Leo, using your power to create your dungeon, should excavate downward to find it. In those ancient halls, we might find the answers we need.

"Primary documents. Written records from 4000 years ago. None have survived the ravages of the dungeon builders. The Great Library was only built 2000 years ago when it became clear that we were losing our history. That it was being wiped out by the conflict or by deliberate actions of those who do not want the existence of the Incarnation to be known."

I glanced down at my feet. Could a whole dungeon really be down there? Could the answer to all my questions truly be found beneath my feet? My hands gripped the armrest of my throne. The possibilities were so fascinating.

I had a quest. A goal.

For the first time since coming here, I truly had a task to accomplish that wasn't survival. That didn't involve protecting myself and those I loved from the dangers of the world. A smile spread on my lips.

"I agree."

"Excellent," she said. "When shall you start? I hope it is immediately. Perhaps, we can get lucky and find the dungeon in the next hour."

"You will have to be patient with me. I have been thinking about how to redesign my entire dungeon and correct some... flaws. I have been too haphazard, just throwing things together. And I also have more monster girls to create and new companions to summon."

"As you do that, may I explore your dungeon?" Fara asked. She slipped that book into her pouch and pulled out another along with a quill. It was a red feather that had a shimmering haze about it. "I wish to understand how you make traps and deploy monster girls. Perhaps I can even come up with some suggestions for your new plans."

"A phoenix feather?" asked Halia in surprise before I could answer.

"Yes, they make wonderful writing instruments." Fara's ears twitched. "They burn the page, but only where the tip touches. No ink required."

"Garnet," I said, glancing at my sister bouncing on her throne, "why don't you give Fara the tour."

"And can I eat her pussy?" Garnet asked. "She looks like she has a yummy pussy."

"Only if she is willing," I told her. "No using your charms on her. She's not an enemy."

"Kweh, heh, heh, she is your loyal vessel whose frozen heart must be melted by the power of love!" Garnet hopped up so she stood on the arm rests, legs spread wide. "I, the cute and adorable Garnet, shall make it my mission to awaken heady passion beneath Fara's breasts."

The elf blinked her large eyes. "She is..."

Garnet formed a heart with her hands and rested her chin on them. "Sexy yet adorable, sultry yet cute, sensual yet playful?"

"Intriguing," Fara said. She glanced down at the map and then started writing notes.

I left her to it.