Chapter 4 – Going Home

As I exited Black Gate, several guards that were setting up for the day noticed me. Apparently, I wasn’t supposed to be in the Dungeon. They kept logs of who enters and who left and would send in search parties if a group of people didn’t return before they left for the night.

No one was currently missing, and I didn’t sign in, so they suspected me of something. I was being held until the guards figured out what I was up to. I understood where they were coming from; I was clearly suspicious. Another guard entered the room, his leather armor more decorative than the rest of the guards.

“Captain!” the guard at the door saluted by placing his fist on his chest.

The captain took a seat on the opposite side of the table, looking me up and down. “You don’t seem like someone who would enter the dungeon alone.”

He must be referring to the simple farmer’s clothes I wore. Yep, why would a simple farmer be wandering a dungeon alone?

“So, what were you doing down in the dungeon by yourself?”

“I was just exploring.”

“Uggh…” The captain pinched the bridge of his nose and looked down. “Bring me the truth crystal.”

“Yessir!” the guard at the door left, returning with a clear palm-sized crystal.

They put my hands on the table, placing the crystal inside my palm.

“Okay again, what were you doing down in the dungeon,” the captain asked again, sterner than before.

“I was exploring the dungeon,” I answered. The crystal gave a faint blue glow.

Flustered, the captain asked, “Okay, when did you enter the dungeon?”

“I’m not sure how long I was down there,” the crystal gave a faint blue glow. That must mean I was telling the truth again. Technically I was exploring, and I really wasn’t sure how long I was down there.

The captain looked at the guard by the door and back to me, “Did you enter the dungeon last night.”

“No, it was a few days, maybe a week or more ago. I’m not really sure,” the crystal gave a faint blue glow again.

Wide-eyed, the captain asked, “How did you survive that long.”

For a moment, I thought, how could I answer without saying, “Zozi, let me stay with her most of the time,” I just needed to respond with something that was technically the truth.

“Well, the monsters didn’t really seem interested in me and didn’t give me any trouble,” the crystal gave a faint red glow.

The captain smirked as if with a gotcha moment, “The crystal says your lying you best start telling the truth now.”

Oh, that’s right. The minotaur did attack me, but I didn’t think he was serious. I think it was more because he was bored being alone in that boss room.

“I forgot there was one monster that attacked me. It was a giant minotaur; I think he was just playing around because he was bored,” I answered as if it were no big deal. The crystal gave a faint blue glow again.

Rubbing his forehead, the captain asked, “So were you up to anything illegal?”

“Nope, not that I’m aware of,” the crystal gave a faint blue glow.

“Uggh, I don’t have time for this. Let him go.”

“Yessir!” the guard at the door responded.

“I won’t be charging you with any crimes today, but if we catch you again, I will. If you want to go exploring still, you need to register with the adventurer’s guild, and then you need to sign in before you head down. It’s for your own good,” he said before leaving the room.

After that, the guards released me, returning my belongings and escorting me outside the Dungeon’s fortifications. The guards explained that reforms had been passed, and now the guards only monitored the Dungeon during the days. No one was allowed to enter the Dungeon after a specific time. The new Duke had implemented recent reforms across the territory to reduce costs; this was one of them.

With the new schedule, some would take advantage of it. Dark god worshippers may sneak in and try to commune with the dark one. Bandits would dispose of bodies after dark, dungeons would absorb corpses left there long enough. Hiding the evidence of a crime being committed.

Stretching, glad to be free of my bindings, I set off on my trip back to Ullmet.

*****

Zozrollal sat on her marble throne, watched Ruten and the guards. This is quite entertaining, she thought as she hummed to herself. It’s like she gets to explore the world above herself.

“This would be great with snacks,” she said as she pouted. At that time, she realized something had happened to one of the dungeons; a boss was defeated somewhere on the eastern continent. She was glad that someone didn’t die fighting the boss, but that also meant she had a lot of work created for her.

She would need to create another dungeon. She was tasked with maintaining the dungeons, and that also meant when one was defeated, she had to create another.

Usually, this would have excited her. Changing it up from her regular tedious duties of just upkeep, but now she had a new hobby of watching Ruten stumble along his way in the world above. She wanted to hurry up and get this new Dungeon completed so she could get back to watching Ruten.

*****

I approached the town of Ullmet. The wooden palisades surrounding the town were further from the town than I remembered. As I approached the gate, I heard the bustling of the residents inside. I was positioned behind several carts of varying sizes. At each stop, the guards would inspect the cart before waving them in.

When it came to my turn, the guard just waved me in since I didn’t have a cart. It must have something to do with taxes. Ullmet had grown quite a bit. The old dusty road was now paved, new buildings lined the streets. Many more people seemed to live here.

I began to worry about how long I had actually been gone. I needed to check on Merle. Weaving myself through the traffic, I made my way to a familiar storefront and was greeted by a familiar sign. “Bigg’s Goods,” this was Merle’s old man’s shop.

I entered the shop, and a young shopkeeper boy greeted me. I didn’t recognize him.

“Excuse me, but was Merle in?”

“You a friend of grandmother’s? She doesn’t come by the shop much anymore.”

I stood there in silence as I let the reality wash over me. I had been gone for a really long time. The once small village had enough time to become a bustling town. It wasn’t surprising that Merle would move on without me as well. I mean, I did die, so I can’t really blame her. Still, it was a bit much to take in so suddenly. I had thought I had prepared myself for this as it was the most likely outcome. I had no sense of time while I was away.

What I had to do now was what I had always done. I needed to face forward and continue on towards my dream. I wasn’t going to let a little thing like death stop me. Why should I let this?

With a concerned look, the boy asked, “You okay, mister? Do you need me to take a message?”

“No, it’s okay; I need to be on my way.”

=

I would be doing her no favors now by introducing her to my new problems, so I decided I would try and stay away from Merle for the time being. Looking up, I realized I followed the smell of food to an area where several food carts lined the streets.

Gazing at a particular food cart, the owner held a funnel, dropping batter into the oil and frying it till it was golden brown. She would then scoop it out and cover it with finely ground sugar. I hadn’t seen this before, and it smelt wonderful. Then I remembered the real reason I came back to Ullmet, operation Tasty Treats.

I came here to get Zozi some treats, so that is what I will do. My existential crisis would have to wait for a later date.

“Excuse me, mam, do you do large orders?”

“We sure do, handsome. How large we talking about?”

“Could we do about thirty of them?” Zozi had given me this bag with some money for this very reason.

She nearly spat, “Sure can sweetie. If you got the coin. It will be…” she counted on her hand, “Twelve silver.”

That was pretty expensive, but sugar was pretty expensive too, and she was using it as a topping. One silver was worth ten copper, so each of these fried cakes I bought would be four copper. “Sounds fair; it’s a deal,” I said

“Great! I can’t get it all ready until tomorrow. I’ll need to pick up some more ingredients. Would you be able to come by tomorrow and pick it up? We could do half payment now and half tomorrow.”

“I don’t have any plans to leave today, so that sounds fine to me, but on the payment, would you mind if I paid you completely upfront,” I was a little worried about how much money I had. Zozi had said she put money in the bag but didn’t say how much.

“I’m fine with that if you are,” she said as she gave me a toothy grin.

I reached into the bag and thought about twelve silver coins. Immediately I felt something in my hand and pulled it out. It was twelve silvers. So far, so good.

I handed over the money and agreed tomorrow after she got the ingredients, I would return to pick up the fried cakes. I examined the rest of the stall, making my way to each one that looked like it offered sweets; they were my target for today.

I found some fudge, cupcakes, cookies, chocolate-covered bananas, and made similar deals with those shopkeepers. Tomorrow I would come back, load up on the snacks and head out back to Zozi. I could just imagine her salivating over all the treats.

I wouldn’t have dreamt of finding all these shops in Ullmet back when I lived here. It sure did grow while I was gone.

Now that I had some time to kill, I should register with the adventure guild. The guard had mentioned that I would need to be an adventurer to enter the Dungeon, which might come in handy on my way back. I made my way to the maze of streets until I came across the familiar adventurer guild building.

I hadn’t actually ever been inside before. Sometimes I would drink with adventurers at the local pub and had one day wanted to become an adventurer so I could explore dungeons. They always held a mysterious air about them when I heard the adventurers talk.

I entered the building; it was surprisingly clean. The floors looked freshly swept, and there was a reception area with benches that filled a considerable portion of the space. Considering the adventurers, I knew I was surprised by the cleanliness of the place.

On the opposite side of the entrance, there were two counters separated by dividers. One was labeled drop-offs, and the other had no label. The drop-off counter was most likely for those returning from a job and needing to turn in whatever they were sent out to retrieve.

I approached the unlabeled counter. The stern-looking woman with short brown hair operating the counter greeted me, “How can I help ya’. You here to request a job?”

“No, actually, I was hoping to register,” she must have mistaken my farmer garb for a country bumpkin needing some pest exterminated.

“Oh, yer want a join do ya. That’s simple enough,” handing me a form, “Just fill out this form here, and you’re registered.”

That was pretty easy; the form asked for your name, role (Priest, Mage, Archer, Swordsman), and next of kin. After filling out the form, I returned it to the receptionist.

“So Ruten the swordsman with no next of kin,” she said after looking at the form, “Why do you want to become an adventurer.”

“I’ve always wanted to explore dungeons and heard I needed to be an adventure to enter them.” The real reason, though, was so I wouldn’t cause any more trouble at the checkpoint in front of Black Gate and could enter and leave without incident.

“Hrm… You know, dungeons are hazardous places. Not just anyone can enter, right?” she frowned and stepped back from the counter, showing her leg or absence of one. Where her leg was supposed to be was a pegleg. “You’ll need to be rank C or higher, and new recruits start off as D rank.”

This was news to me. I thought I would have been able to enter the Dungeon immediately. It did make sense the guild wouldn’t want people who couldn’t defend themselves just wandering around the Dungeon. It would hurt morale and probably make a lot more work for the guards if they had to come looking for someone every day.

The receptionist explained you could increase your rank by completing several D and E rank quests. E rank quests were usually relatively safe things, like cleaning or delivering letters throughout the town. Working on construction projects as a laborer. Something you would generally stay in town for.

D rank quests were still particularly safe but involved leaving the town’s safety where you could be attacked. If you completed enough of these quests, the guild figured you would have made some connections with people who could train you or would help you with your C rank quests.

There was a third option to advance from D to C, and that was to take a combat exam with someone from the guild. However, I wasn’t sure of my combat prowess. I had basically just relearned to walk, so I wasn’t sure I would be much good in a fight. That option wasn’t currently available to me anyway as the examiner wasn’t in at the moment.

The receptionist provided me with a pair of copper dog tags to be worn around my neck. They engraved with Ullmet, Ruten, D. City, Name, Rank. They could apparently be used for identification when on a job. Not that D ranks would have much need to travel, so I wasn’t sure how much they would help.

I could see this being useful though if I were to increase my rank in the guild, I could take on higher-rank jobs requiring me to travel, which would fuel my excuse to explore the world.

I thanked the receptionist for her help before leaving the guild. By the time I had finished up, it was beginning to get dark outside. I wasn’t feeling tired, and come to think of it, I hadn’t felt tired since Zozi put her mark on me. I touched my chest as I thought about it.

Even if I didn’t need to sleep, wandering around town at night would draw too much attention to myself. Ullmet may have increased in size, but it still didn’t appear to have a red light district. So I thought it would be suspicious for an outsider to snooping around after dark.

I found my way to the old inn I used to stay at, the Crowned Pig. Once again, seeing a familiar site stirred up some emotions, but I didn’t let myself get carried away like I did at Merle’s. 

The old man that used to run the inn was nowhere in sight. Instead, there was a cute girl with wavy black hair behind the counter. It was an upgrade as far as I was concerned.

“Excuse me, miss. Do you have any rooms open?”

“We sure do, sir; it will be fiver copper for the night and seven copper if you want some soup and bread.” She smiled back.

Yep, it was an upgrade compared to that grumpy old man. I reached into my bag and retrieved seven copper, and handed them over. “I’ll take a room and some food.”

“Sure thing, mister,” smiling, she handed me a key with the number two engraved in it. “You’re in room two; the soup should still be warm. I’ll be right back,” she headed back behind the counter and returned with a tray that had a piece of bread and some mystery soup on it.

“Thanks!” I nodded, taking the tray and heading up the stairs to my room.

When I was about halfway up, she shouted, “Oh, you can leave the tray in your room, and I will get it tomorrow. You don’t need to bring it back down.”

I nodded and continued to my room. Compared to how it used to be, it was quite the upgrade. The sheets were clean, and the room was freshly dusted. There were a bed and a nightstand in the room. It may not be much, but compared to the old dirty sheets and the mystery smell used to be in the rooms back when the old man ran it, it was definitely an upgrade.

On the nightstand was a small lantern that was filled with oil. It must be complementary. I don’t know how the inn could keep people from just walking off with it. A lantern was easily worth the five copper it cost to stay the night here.

I sat down on the bed and began eating my food, not because I was hungry, but because I wondered if I could. The bread was hard and chewy, I took a spoonful of the soup to wash it down, and it wasn’t half bad. The soup had A saltiness that paired well with the vegetables packed in it. The only concern I had was the mystery meat. It looked well cooked, so I went ahead and ate that too. The meat was stringy, and I avoided eating any more meat.

I placed the tray on the nightstand. I hadn’t planned on actually sleeping, so I just laid in the bed; it was soft and had a nice springy feel to it, yep an upgrade. I closed my eyes and just listened to the sounds around me. As I relaxed, I realized I could still feel the flow of mana around me.

I wasn’t sure if I had just gotten better at it or just didn’t notice before, but the ambient mana bounced off objects and passed through them at different rates. It was almost like I could see my room with my eyes shut—the outline of the door, nightstand, even the silhouette of the lamp.

Unlike sight, it was more like sensing a sound. The slight vibrations of mana as they collided with the door then passing through. I could almost tell what was made of wood and what wasn’t. The metal on the lamp didn’t move through quite as quickly as the wooden door. This must be how I was able to see with no eyes as a specter.

How far could I push this? Focusing on the door, I was able to get a general idea of what was past it. Instead of sleeping that night, I practiced with this new ability that I just realized I had. By morning I was able to reach the first-floor lobby. I would have to remember to keep practicing. I could see this becoming useful.