Dungeon Robotics 10 - 2

Chapter 2

Louella

I stared out over the city from the deck of the airship with more thoughts than I care for at the moment. The capital of Thonaca sat in the palm of my hands, but I wasn’t sure I liked the way in ultimately came to be there. With the king succumbing to a demon, he was essentially dead. Regan had no way of retrieving the soul that had been consumed by Thogran.

That felt us with three options, the now widowed queen, the prince, and the princess. I had met the queen and I doubted she would be able to control what remained of Thonaca in the state she was in. The prince was sixteen years old and thus of age, but anyone that interacted with him knew he was little more than a spoiled brat. He wasn’t acting up considering his home had literally been thrown outside the city. That said, I wasn’t sure it would always stay that way.

Then there was the princess. She wasn’t much better than the prince. The main thing was that she was much younger at nine. If she was raised right, she could be a suitable ruler in the future. It would serve the people well if the former royal family served as reagents like I was having the Lecazar royal family. Familiarity in these trying times.

Moving my vision over to the former location of the palace, a large cathedral sat there now. Even from the distance the airship was maintaining, I could make out the long lines of people that were heading for it. A few might actually be going to worship, but most would be heading there for the food that Regan was handing out.

I couldn’t help but wonder when he would formerly place a core in this city like Tearfalls. I knew he planned something along those lines, but other than his overall goals, I had little idea. At least I knew he had no plans to hurt the mortals. Last I checked the death rate of his actual dungeon was near zero. Not exactly something you ever heard when talking about a dungeon.

I heard some footsteps from behind me and found Wrakras. I blushed and looked back out over the city. I had been having trouble looking at him since he saved me in the palace against Thogran. I owed him my life and I wanted to thank him. My only problem was that he never actually voiced his interest in me. If he had acted the way he did to throw off the demon, I really would kick myself for reading too much into it.

“So much is changing. How changed will the world be in a few weeks let alone a few months?” He asked leaning on the railing.

“Regan is probably the only one that might know that answer, and I’m personally worried about tomorrow rather than a few weeks from now,” I replied. I was proud of myself for keeping my voice straight.

“Tomorrow. Ah yes. Announcing that the king is dead. That is certainly to cause more than a little trouble.”

“What can we do?” I asked more to myself. “I will not lie to them.”

“Which is admirable.” He reached out and grabbed my hand catching me by surprise. That was saying a lot given how powerful I was. “Don’t worry. I plan to be there every step of the way.”

I looked at my hand in his and drew up a blank. I was sure I would rather be fighting a horde of monsters right now. I honestly had no idea what I should say or do. My mind felt like it was going to break.

“I don’t want much. Just for you to consider me. I know our start was… not the best.” That was an understatement. He abducted me and used me as bait to lure Regan from his dungeon. “Still, I like to think that I’ve become a changed man. I’ve seen you gain so much power that I believe you don’t even want. Unlike me that gained power to use for selfish gains. Rather than continue to serve myself, I want to use this power that I’ve gained and protect you.”

“I… I will admit that it sounds nice to have someone that I can… can be dependent on,” I said testing the words a few hundred times in my mind and still not being sure of them. “I do enjoy spending time with you. Outside the battlefield.”

“As do I. Will you let me be your shadow?” he asked with the most passion that I had ever heard a person use. I stared at his face and could only see the absolute and complete yearning to be with me. How do you say no to something like that? Did I even want to? I found that I actually didn’t.

I reached up and cupped his cheek. Even though it felt smooth, I could still sense all the scars that once covered it. “You’ve won. You better take care of me. As the queen, I am extremely high maintenance.”

He grinned with his entire face. Even his eyes brightened. “I would have it no other way,” he replied taking my hand and kissing the back of it.

~~~

In my office on the airship, I was busy looking over the supplies we had remaining. We would need to send a few supply ships back to the valley or get some from Regan’s cathedral in town if we were going to continue south.

“Congratulations.” I jumped at the sound and looked up to see Regan who had materialized out of nowhere. I should be used to it, but even as I gained a better awareness of his teleporting, he improved his magic.

“Regan. You really need to announce yourself. Especially with Demons popping out of kings left and right,” I said putting my tablet down.

Laughing, he took a seat opposite me. “Wrakras told me. I’ve assigned him to be with you for the foreseeable future.”

I looked down at my hands and took a deep breath. There had been something nagging at me for a while and while I felt bad about thinking it, I had to make sure. “Is Wrakras… is he still under your control?”

“Huh? Oh. No. I released him, like four or five months ago. I can’t say he isn’t bound to the dungeon in his own way, but he has as much free will as you or me.”

Relieved, I sighed much deeper than I meant to. “Thank you. I was worried that he might be doing this due to some order from you that might have gotten twisted.”

“Ah. I see. I don’t blame you. This world’s slave and mind control magic is quite powerful. I still can’t believe I released Julie. Well, tried to, she has basically fused the magics to her own mana pool.”

“Not sure I ever want to see that person with free reign of herself.”

He shrugged. “I like to believe people can change. Though, whether they should be given the chance to, that is the harder question. Those two both have killed their share of people, most of them innocent. Looking at it normally, you might condemn them right there, but if you take a step back they were on the opposite side of a war. Now that the war is over, do we hold on to the hate or forgive them?”

I crossed my arms as I considered it. We, hell, I had killed quite a few people on the few times that Vaihdetta had been attacked. I was defending my home and didn’t think too much about it. The soldiers would have been the same way, they were under orders to attack us and while many might have nightmares, they likely would have been able to live with themselves at the end of the day.

“The cause,” I said finally. We couldn’t blame the soldiers, but the ones giving orders or even higher could be blamed. Just like I was taking full responsibility for any deaths that we caused. Each person’s blood falls on my hands, no one else’s. “That’s what’s important.”

“Cassin. Yes, that is who we need to demand retribution from,” Regan said nodding. “I am glad to see you trying so hard to make this bloodless. I fear that might not work for the Lelune Theocracy.”

“I know.” The cities under their full control might as well be brainwashed. The few scouts that managed to get us information were worried that it would be nothing less than a full-on genocide if we came to blows.

“Alara and I will begin seeding cores in the populated cities of Thonaca while we reach out to the native dungeons. Thanks to Thogran, I am sure that my theory is correct. I still don’t have an accurate time, but everything is pointing to soon. It would be best if the mortals got on the same page soon.”

I looked at him in shock. So, he was right. This would make matters even worse if the situation wasn’t handled carefully. The last thing we needed was for the Church to blame us for the demons’ return. Though, I didn’t doubt they would try to claim it was us either way.

“I understand. I will try to have things settled within the month.”

“I also would like you to assist me in the Beneath later. This involves the entire planet. We’re going to need them to be on the same page.”

“With how the dwarves are acting, something has to behind it.”

“Whatever it is was caused by the Terra Wave.” Regan sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I very nearly broke this planet when I caused that. One of the few things I wish I could change.”

“You might say that, but I have a feeling that it was for the best. This world has been balanced so carefully for so long that it was eventually going to break. It is better that you kicked the scale, since if anyone can create a new balance it is you.”

Regan grinned before he bowed his head. “Thank you. The capital is going to be seeded first. Get your supplied once the core is stable.”

“Will do,” I replied as his form faded from view. It looked like there was a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in. Best to get started!

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