~ Chapter 20: The world above ~

[Tuberculus’ point of view]

Six years had passed... There was only one year left before the appointed time for the Ritual of Suppression. Just one more year until we would have to face the anger of the surface kingdoms.

There were countless changes that were made to the World Core and the Hidden Floor below it. From the way the people who lived there interacted with each other to the layout and details that made it so unique. One of them became the grand theater of the battle that was to come, while the other was turned into a new home for those who had been forced to live apart for so long.

My wife also went through a couple of changes, and I was feeling like I was getting to know the real her more and more with each passing day. Our relationship was becoming... natural. I felt like I truly had a bond with her. I felt like I could fully trust her. I felt like my mind had stopped wandering whenever I came face to face with her.

Yandrea’s voice, her sweet words, and gentle presence allowed me to keep my sanity, my composure, to see towards the future that up until now I could not even glance at.

During these six years, the Slaves from the upper surface came down several times either for inspection or to order Yandrea around. We fooled them for a whole good three, maybe four years, but then the changes that took place in the dungeon were becoming increasingly visible the longer and deeper one dived. The experienced adventurers felt like something had changed but they did not know yet, they could not put their finger on it.

However, two years ago, two Slaves came down with the idea of messing around with Yandrea. They wanted to grab a few ellyarians and ornaks to bring to the surface and hunt them for sport. They thought they were weaklings who would immediately succumb to their might. On their way down, they were met with paths they had never experienced before. Their anger increased but it reached its peak when they arrived at the entrance to the Core World and were stopped there by the Lion Emperor guards. Now, both of them were Peak Emperor fighters. They faced the Slaves head on and held their ground.

Those two were furious and immediately demanded Yandrea to reveal herself. They cursed and insulted her. They mocked and demanded that she killed those two guards. They asked all sorts of outrageous things of her as if they owned her, as if she was their toy.

That day, the whole dungeon floor heard her angered voice.

“GET OUT! I ORDER YOU TWO TO LEAVE THIS DUNGEON AND NEVER RETURN AGAIN!”

Every word exploded from wall to wall and echoed for a while. Everyone around with sensitive ears found themselves in a world of pain, including myself, who was hiding nearby. However, the two Slaves fell on the ground gasping for air, trembling and sweating. They did not even dare to look up at her. They were overwhelmed, frightened, terrified. Then, without a word, they turned around and left.

I had no idea what happened to them; however, they never came down here again. None of them did. Our communication with them was cut off completely. Not even the adventurers managed to reach this place, although it would be a wonder if they could get past the swarms of monsters in the Land of Giants.

When you thought about it and did the calculations, six years was not enough time to change a civilization or make a proper army. Of course, it would have been impossible if you did it normally, but with the help of a Godlike Dungeon and my own to guide the way, miracles appeared everywhere on the Hidden Floor. The small settlement of ornaks, ellyarians, Lion Emperors and automatons quickly changed into a bustling city. Their previous homes now were left abandoned, standing only as a vestige of their past selves. The army, while it started with a few soldiers, now included almost all able body men and women who wished to pick up a weapon or cast magic to fight in the upcoming war. The elders and children were mingling with each other and a bright smile could be seen on their faces. However, everyone knew that this home was only temporary. It was an experiment to see if they could truly live together, if they could coexist.

Upon studying their cultures and histories, I learned that all of them had conflicting habits, traditions, and doctrines that could end up upsetting the others. For example, ornaks had a butchering festival, where they hunted live prey and killed it by a large campfire. This tradition was in conflict with the ellyarian doctrine of respecting their sacrificed prey. They saw the act of hunting it down for sport and then killing it like this as barbaric and unsavory. Meanwhile, there was the Lion Emperor event called Moon of Harmony, when all the Lion Emperors sat down and meditated by a campfire in order to suppress their wild instincts and reflect on their path in life. This one took place at the same time as the ellyarian Night of Souls, when they would hold a ceremony for the deceased. They gathered by a large campfire in their graveyard and shouted at the top of their lungs, sang and danced to let their people know that their families and friends are still alive and well.

As such, it was necessary to place the locations of these festivals far enough from each other in order to make sure that they did not disturb each other. Sometimes, a soundproof barrier was necessary, those ellyarians could really shout.

During these six years, most of the leaders who were with us back at the original meeting had become powerhouses of Godlike Rank. As for me, I had finally stepped into the Supreme Rank. From now on, I could only hold my hand up and aim for the stars. I was finally free of the constraints that would have plagued me as an Emperor or even a Godlike Adventurer, the limitations, the feeling of the world itself. My mind broadened considerably, and I was starting to believe, actually, I could even guarantee it, that the main reason behind this change was the way I saw this war, the way I saw people’s lives and my own in general. Most of all, the way I saw Yandrea.

“Maybe I was cured of my obsession?” I wondered out loud, almost like I was doubting my own beliefs or rather putting them up to the test against the Universe itself?

“What’s wrong, Tuby? Are you still trying to cast a spell to grow your beard? Last time you turned into this fuzzy creature with four jaws, a Merion.” Yandrea reminded me in an ever so gently manner of one of my past horrible mistakes.

“I was just trying out a spell to broaden my knowledge... it was an accident.. I think... Anyway, I was just thinking about a bunch of useless stuff, don’t worry about it. So, are we there yet?” I asked as I looked ahead at the stairs leading to the next floor.

“After this floor, we just have ten more and we’ll reach the first floor, but are you sure you really want to go up there?” Yandrea asked.

“Yes.” I nodded. “I need to see what their society is like, how advanced it is... and how they see others.” I told her.

“I don’t agree, but just promise me you’ll be careful, I won’t be able to protect you just as well as I would at the lower floors.” she spoke with a soft tone of voice with a clear sign of worry in it.

“I will take utmost care to return safely!” I showed her a big smile.

My sudden decision to go up came to me about two weeks ago after watching a bunch of children playing on the court of the Magic Academy. It was just like any other day, nothing special about it. The idea, or rather this thought came to me out of the blue.

What if there are only civilians and innocent people living in that place and by acting as we will, we will sentence them all to death? An unintended genocide? this was terrifying.

There were those who could easily brush such a thought aside, unfortunately, I was not one of them. So, if the situation was as I had guessed and there were a lot of innocents living on the first floor, we would open an additional path that would allow them to flee to the surface before leaving this place for good. If this place was just a home base for adventurers and a cesspool of corruption, we would leave it as it is.

At the same time, this was the perfect occasion for me to test out my abilities and dust off on my rusted skills as an adventurer, or so I thought... I forgot that within my wife’s dungeon only the natural born monsters and the traps setup by other adventurers could affect me. It was interesting and at the same time boring to simply walked through what looked like a veritable trap avoidance test as calmly as you would through a park. Not even jumping on a spring-loaded trap made it budge. I found it hilarious and even tried it but I would soon get tired of wasting my energy like this. As for the monsters, they either pulled back or looked at me without giving off even the smallest killing intent.

Starting from the 300th floor up, I was told the chances of encountering an adventurer would go up. It was for this reason why instead of going around in my human form, I was using a very advanced illusion skill to look like a Negvar Elf. It was not just a matter of making my ears pointy, I also had to modify my eyebrows and make them longer and thicker. Elves maintained and cared for their eyebrows the same way as human males did for their beard. The more stylish and impressive their eyebrows were the more appreciated they were in their social circles. Besides my facial hair, I also had to modify the structure of my head, since the elves had pointier chins and slightly elongated heads. Their eyes varied from round, almond, thin, droopy, pointed, to cat-like. Then there were the clothes, which I had to make sure looked like a high-ranking adventurer outfit and not one of a noble or commoner. Yandrea helped me out there by making an outfit for me.

Now, while I was doing some research for this disguise spell, this was the interesting thing I discovered about the Negvar Elves. The sharper their features, the more beautiful they were perceived, while if they had more round or square features like a human did, they were seen as ugly even if for me, personally, they were attractive. Case and point: Yandrea in her previous pink-haired elf beauty form. She was average at best in the eyes of a Negvar Elf, while for me, she was stunning. Which only made me wonder just how beautiful she was going to be if she would ever choose to have a humanoid body.

Being Yandrea’s husband had a direct impact on the entire dungeon she built. There was no trap that would activate unless I wanted it too or a summoned monster that would attack me unless I ordered it. Everything else was a free game. Of course, I always made sure to scare off the creatures that got close to me. There was no need for me to hunt, I had enough supplies in my storage ring, which was my previous storage crystal that Yandrea modified to look like a thumb ring. A coat of paint applied to it to make it look as though it was made out of wood was the finishing touch.

This journey to the top floors of the dungeon was also one of exploration for me. One thing was to hear about how amazing this entire place was and another was to actually see it with my own eyes. Whether it was the Volcano Paradise on the 7th Layer or the Endless Spire on the 6th Layer, they were both amazing in their own right. I could not fathom human beings ever constructing things like this. None of the stories or dungeons back on the three continents had anything remotely similar. Yandrea, sometimes, did not realize just what an amazing place she had built. Then again, this place was not built with joy but rather with tears and suffering. It made me wonder if this architectural beauty was worth it, however, the short answer was always going to be: “no, never”.

“One day, you’re going to build another dungeon, in another place, far from here. That place is going to be more amazing than this place ever was!” I declared as I looked back at the Endless Spire before going up to the 5th Layer, the Golem Paradise.

The huge constructs did not move at all in my presence, but I could see in them the process that Yandrea went through in order to reach the form of the current automatons. There were golems with mechanical parts and others without. There were those which had a classical body and others that presented modifications of all types, their joints, the thickness in their arms, the materials they were made out of.

I saw at one point the signs of a battle in the far distance, but I ignored it and continued my journey to the surface.

The higher I went, the more signs of battles I found, however, I had yet to encounter anyone. There were probably not that many adventurers who were eager to dive this deep even after substantially reducing the difficulty of the dungeon. Once in a while there was a monster who bared their teeth at me, nothing that I could not handle. The really dangerous ones were locked away between fake walls in this labyrinth. Only the weak ones sneaked around looking for food or some unsuspecting adventurer.

After the Golem Paradise, I reached the area known as the Dead Floors, where only the undead lurked around. They could not reproduce like the other monsters could, so everything here was summoned by Yandrea. In my opinion, for the regular adventurers this was probably one of the worst areas. There was no food they could scavenge and animals to hunt. The undead never slept, so they were constantly roaming about. They could not smell and some of them had no eyes, however, they all could sense life. The more adventurers were in a group, the easier it was for these monsters to spot them. Then there were the traps, while more than half of them had been deactivated, they would usually be the main thing they had to worry about. In this area, they were designed to be rusty, old, and covered with poison or rotting remains, the perfect recipe for a infection.

Entering this area with an open wound was akin to suicide. Staying in the dungeon after suffering a wound was even worse.

From what Yandrea told me, this area had the specific role of trimming down the adventurers who had a weaker Magic Armor, seeing as how the monsters and traps encountered afterwards were much more difficult to confront. Rather than claiming they were stronger than they actually were, these 100 floors of death and decay made sure that no weak adventurer was able to advance.

It was only after passing through the Dead Floors that I would have a higher chance of meeting adventurers. This place, spanning across 300 floors, was called the Endless Labyrinth. Upon reaching it, the construction reminded me of the classical dungeons on the three continents. The corridors were spacious enough to even hold a mature Minotaur. The walls were made from layered stone that had not been flattened out. If you stumbled and hit the walls, without a Magic Armor, you would end up with a scrape or bruise at best. The ceiling was the same and had no light crystals to push the darkness away. So, carrying a torch or lighting your way with a spell or tool was mandatory.

I used a spell that enhanced my vision at night to get through this place. With Yandrea as a guide, I had no fear of getting lost among corridors, however, without a proper map, this place could be very dangerous. Right now, as a result of our strategy to numb the senses of the adventurers, we made it smaller and changed the locations of some walls. It was only a third of its initial size. The rest of it was locked up behind walls with countless dangerous monsters lurking among those corridors. In the future, a wave of monsters would be released from here onto the unsuspecting soldiers of the enemy army.

There was a higher chance of meeting adventurers here, so I carefully made my way up while keeping my interactions with them at a minimum. I pretended to be an aloof solo adventurer, only watching from afar and saying just a couple of words if needed be. Some of the groups were annoyed while others simply disregarded my actions and continued with their own quests. The purpose of these small interactions was to observe the way these adventurers behaved and whether or not they had any special tools or habits that I had to be aware of. For example, in the Talmurian Dungeon near the capital of the Shoraya Kingdom, the adventurers would usually make a cross on the walls before they set up camp or when changing floors. It was a tradition and also a superstition but anyone who dived deeper than two floors there knew of it. To be unaware of such things would be immediately seen as suspicious.

In this regard, after meeting a party halfway through the Endless Labyrinth, I learned of a tradition they carried on, which was to keep in their pockets a rock they picked up from the deepest floor they reached. While another one, especially for the elves, was to carry a branch or preserved leaf from their hometown. Knowing this, I asked Yandrea to make one for me. As for the rock, she brought me one from the 457’th floor. This way, my disguise was complete.

This was how I climbed the floors of the dungeon and how I avoided being discovered by others. If I encountered adventurer parties at lower floors, where there was a lower chance of being discovered by others, the chance of getting into a conflict with them because of greed was much higher. Even on the three continents, there were countless cases where parties got into conflicts over loot or secrets and then ended up killing each other. No one could find your body in a dungeon, and your gear could end up as random item drops across all the floors. It was hard to identify the criminal, although not impossible. Thus, I wanted to avoid such events.

Going up another ten floor was going to be a breeze for me as long as I continued to keep interactions to a minimum. Although, around this point, it was safe to assume that no one was crazy enough to try to attack other adventurers. You never knew, after all, if they were a veteran or a new blood.

Another 8 floors and I was finally out of the Endless Labyrinth. At the end of the stairs, what greeted me was the sight of countless mountain peaks with white spears aiming for the tip of the world. Snow was sprinkled on the top and from the looks of it, there were special crystals that dropped the temperature below zero in that area. Instead of a dirt path there was a paved road that stretched across the hills and mountain tops, spreading its arms towards the left and right, where outpost, camps, and small villages were established. As for the monsters, there were birds in the sky and various creatures roaming the ground, however, none of them was even remotely dangerous to me.

The Endless Mountain alongside the Endless Plains above it were the only two floors that were not shrunk down with the optical illusion strategy. This place, just like the Core World, showed just how vast and powerful the dungeon built by my wife could be. Needless to say, that this floor was slowly becoming an extension of the Endless Plains, with the main focus of processing the gathered minerals and monster materials. 

“Those trails of smoke that you see are from workshops that process the ores... They moved everything down here a while back and reduced both the flora and fauna here. At one point... this place had a lush forest.” Yandrea spoke with a sad longing in her voice.

Whether it was the Forglore, the Reiss, or the Negvar Elves, the mountains on this floor were a real treasure for them. It was no wonder that in their greed they decided to destroy the ecosystem here.

I pulled my hood down to keep a low profile and then walked past the guards, adventurers, and various civilians on the road. My feet brought me to the stairs leading to the upper floor. I looked back one more time at the desolate mountains where not even a single tree was given the chance to sprout and then turned my attention towards the stony steps.

Hours later, I reached the Endless Plains. The refreshing sight of an endless field of grass greeted me. Far from here, I noticed numerous fields that were being taken care of by farmers while in the middle a giant city marked the presence of civilization. The roads here were bustling with activity from traders to locals coming and going to the surface and floors below. If I did not know any better, I would have thought that this entire area had always been like this, emitting a peaceful and serene atmosphere...

Everything looked perfect here, almost as if it was a directed play displaying the most wonderful city in the world. The giant light crystal resembling the sun was shining. There were no clouds in the sky. There were lush, cultivated fields spread to the left and right with roads reaching far away outposts. There was a constant flow of people and carriages going in and out of the city. Parties of five headed towards the floors below. Caravans and small groups of merchants were heading to the surface or returning from there. Guards were patrolling on top of the walls and every single road, maintaining peace and order.

When I reached the gates, the forglore guard stopped me and asked me for my identification tag. I pulled out the silver plate Yandrea made for me.

“All clear, welcome to Koin, the City of Adventurers.” he told me.

I nodded once and then went inside.

The first thing I noticed was how clean the roads and buildings were. It was as if this was the first time this city was being used. On each side of the road was a small ditch through which water was flowing, carrying downstream the dirt and garbage. Although countless carriages passed through those gates and spread throughout the entire city, there was not one pile of manure. Despite the age of the city, the buildings had no cracks or showed any signs of aging.

“Is this place managed by spells or by you?” I asked Yandrea as I walked over to a lamp post with a tiny light crystal at the top.

“I maintain them weekly... sometimes daily. It depends on whether or not the royals are here.” she replied as she floated up to the light crystal and replenished it with Magic Energy.

Of course, no one but me could see the small orb of pink light.

“What would happen if you stopped?” I asked as I moved away.

“In two weeks, cracks would appear in the buildings, but by then all the magic crystals would have run out of power. The waters would stop flowing, the roads would be messy, the usual degradation process would begin. I think that without proper architects and engineers this place would collapse in 20 to 30 years.” she flew in front of me and kept a distance of about two meters with a height of three.

“So fast?” I asked.

“This place is not built through their own effort... it was made by me.” her voice was soft but it contained a sad note mixed with regret.

“The ornaks made their own place... so did the ellyarians...” I remembered.

“Only from time to time do I build something for them, but yes, they worked together to build the settlements they wanted... Unlike them, the ones living here ordered me to make it for them.” her voice contained the faint trace of disgust.

“Alright, now where was that Adventurers Guild again?” I asked when I reached an intersection. I had to take a step aside to avoid a speeding carriage, not like it could have harmed me or anything.

“It’s this way~!” Yandrea flew towards the right and then took a left turn.

She guided me through the streets all the way to a three-story tall building, with a brick layout and a metal rooftop. The symbol for the adventurers of their kingdom was displayed on the top, a sword and a shield leaning against a gold coin. I found it to be an accurate representation of the local adventurer’s mind. Without the proper payment there was no way to budge them to take a quest. However, at the same time, it was also against the moral principles and ideologies of adventurers back on the three continents. The reason why they were called adventurers was because they would often head out in all sorts of adventures, trying to explore the land or to improve their skill by fighting monsters or collecting materials. Usually, the drops they got from the monsters were brought back to the guild and if by chance a quest matched, they had the choice of either selling the stuff to the guild or using them to complete the quest. It made things flow better. Well, there were some countries who refused this model and adopted something similar to what I was seeing here.

As I opened the door and stepped inside, there were a few glances tossed my way but then everyone simply ignored me. Using my experience as an adventurer back on the three continents, I walked over to the Mission Board and looked at what was on display. There were a lot of requests for specific ingredients found on the lower floors, including some that were so old that the paper was starting to crumble. These missions were ranked S for Supreme or Special. There was one asking for the heart of Queen Skara and another one asking for her fangs.

“Golem’s toe? Usupuri Grass... What’s this... minotaur bladder? These must be alchemical ingredients.” I mumbled to myself as I looking through them.

I found one requesting Munchkin Grass and picked it up. Since I happened to have a few stacks on me, I decided to see how their quest processing system worked. So, I took it from the board and walked over to the receptionist, a reiss who looked as though ate another of his kin. The moment he saw me, he turned his rodent head towards me, the seat creaking under his weight.

“Yesh?” he asked as he looked up at me.

“This.” I gave him the paper and furrowed my brow.

“Hm? Gimme your card, and I’ll assign you to it. Are you new in town?” he asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. I’m looking for a new place to test out my blade.” I shrugged.

“Hah! We have a bunch of youz. Here, the process is complete.” he pushed the card back to me.

“Thanks. Is there anything I should be aware of? Any interesting missions?” I asked as I showed him a smirk.

“Hm...” he narrowed his eyes at me and then smirked “Yesh, there’s somethin’. You know that this is the Slave Dungeon’s place, right?” he asked.

I nodded and maintained my calm despite wanting to punch him in the face.

“Well, word has it that the Ritual of Suppression is gonna be taking place soon. By soon, I mean one or two years from now. The royals are gonna be drafting a lot of new blood from among the adventurers. The mercs are already keeping tabs on their contracts so they don’t miss out. Word has it that if you make a big accomplishment, you could even elevate yourself from commoner to minor noble!”

“You’re not joking, this is big... A good reason to stay here, ain’t it?” I smirked.

“Yeah, the more you ‘venturers stay here and do them quests, the more benefit the guild receives. Just keep in mind who told ya this when you fill out the Appreciation Form at the end of the month! I need just a few more points to win over Ruby!” he laughed, his belly making waves and causing his chair to cry out in pain.

“I’ll remember.” I nodded.

With my mission in hand, I walked outside and begun to explore this city.

“Is there anything I should know about this place?” I cautiously asked Yandrea.

She floated above my head and let out a long “Hmmm~”

“Well? Noble stuff, commoner stuff, hidden guilds, organizations?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Well, the Thieves Guild is located on the periphery to the North of here. Count Lasster is controlling them. The Mage Guild is near the center, where the noble district is. The big building in the middle is actually the Royal Residence and no one except for those of Royal Blood are allowed to use it. The center part belongs to the Negvar Elves, the one on the right to the Forglore and the one the left to the Reiss. They are designed so that their individual species have ease of access inside. Usually, they will gather in the center for discussions and other meetings. I had to build it for them like this after this city was established. The nobles also have their individuals’ homes and if there is someone who had their title taken from them or died in some battle somewhere, it will be given to another noble. Everyone here pays a fee to the Royal Family they are under. For about a century or so now, there have been no more workshops in this city and instead everything is being processed on the floor below. Not even a simple tailor or carpenter can be found here. They usually gather their broken stuff in a pile outside this city, then once a week I go over there and fix them up.” she explained.

“So, they are using you as a maintenance tool...” I grumbled.

“More or less... They won’t bother me individually... At least there’s that.” She spoke with a sad tone in her voice.

“You don’t like it, do you?” I asked.

“No.” she made a circle around me.

We went to a restaurant and ordered some food from there. The place looked clean but the food left much to be desired. I had to add some of my own spices to make it more palatable. At least the ale was good. The waiters behaved in a polite manner, and there was no trouble with the guests. Overall, it was a pleasant experience, and from the looks of it, this place was one of the spots where adventurers and mercenaries alike dropped by to have a meal.

After paying the bill, I wanted to see what the shops around here had to offer. Whether they were selling armor, weapons, essentials, or other stuff, I looked through all of them and bought whatever caught my attention. There was an abundance of goods on offer, a clear sign that business was going well if not booming. While I was paying for whatever goods I acquired, I asked the cashier or sometimes the shopkeeper themselves if their business had always been this good. To my surprise, until a few years ago, most of them had been struggling to make sales. It was not a surprise to hear a shop closing down and another opening in their place. As adventurers reached deeper and deeper floors, they would bring back more valuable loot, which in turn would allow the craftsmen to make better goods.

Merchants were calling this the Gold Age of Dungeon Delving or the Age of Geniuses.

My plan to change the perception of the adventurers had an unexpected turn. This was a good thing, overconfidence often led to disasters.

For the night, I planned on sleeping in one of the inns recommended by the Adventurers Guild. The bed was... unpleasant, so I switched it with my own, which was made by Yandrea. I had no idea what she did to it, but anyone who had a taste of her craftsmanship would most certainly refuse to return to common products. A straw bed and a hard pillow that was no different from a rock could not compare to the fluffy embrace of the bed she made.

Thus, three days went by as I continued to explore the city and take note of any interesting things that came to my attention. I felt no need to visit the surface at the moment, since all the exits from the Endless Plains led to either the Zebrazil Kingdom governed by the Reiss, the Vespora Kingdom governed by the Forglore, or the Domeris Republic governed by the Negvar Elves. For the time being, there was no need or interest from my side to go to either of those nations. However, this did not mean that I was not curious about it, and so, through a bit haggling and some under the table tips, I was able to acquire a map of the continent and various information about the outside world. All of it was now stored in my storage ring.

“Are we leaving today?” Yandrea asked as she flew ahead of me.

“Once we get our reward from the guild, I’ll head down.” I replied while keeping my head down.

My journey to the top was coming to an end. I had a good time climbing up the floors and observing with my own eyes how the society here was formed as well as how the adventurers developed and worked. This was an entirely different continent and just the idea of being able to explore it in its entirety lit a spark of curiosity in my old heart. However, at the same time, I was fully aware of my current position. I was an alien on their land, and the husband of their enemy. Revealing myself was akin to signing a death warrant in my name.

Thus, I was prepared to lay low until I left this den of dayuks.

Unfortunately, fate had another plan in store for me...

“These creatures were brought here from the estate of the esteemed Vorkar the 4th! A Chain Holder of the Dungeon!” shouted a Negvar Elf while pointing his sword at the captives before him.

A Lion Emperor child, an old ornak, and an ellyarian woman who had her tail cut in half and a scar over her left eye, they were kneeling in front of them, trembling in fear, tears in their eyes, afraid... terrified...

“These creatures are found on the last floor of the dungeon! They are the property of the Royal Families of the Three Nations! Dare to claim them as your own and you will be punished! These three were brought here by the glorious and generous wish of my esteemed master Vorkar the 4th to help familiarize the adventurers with them! Poke them, probe them, cut them, do whatever things you need to learn about them but don’t kill them! IF you break them, the master will break you next! If you harm them, you pay for their health potions!” he shouted with a domineering voice and a smug confident look in his eyes.