~ Chapter 16: Nanya’s secret! ~

Shanteya helped Nanya take the unconscious men back to the academy’s infirmary. Using [Telekinezy], I picked Rufus up and followed close behind them. I was certain I wasn’t free of their future sermon, but taking care of the injuries of those three teachers took priority over anything else. As for what happened to my dungeon during those two days, I had to postpone it for the following days in order to find out.

Will they make me destroy it? I thought while looking down at the ground. Hm? I noticed something peculiar in front of me, it was Nanya’s round behind. There were two holes in her pants, revealing part of a forbidden temptation. Hm? I stared intensely at those revealed patches of skins, while her cute behind swayed left and right as she walked. I don’t see her panties…

My perverted imagination saw the golden opportunity and began to weave all sorts of reasons and fantasies as to why she wasn’t wearing any. By the time I realized that it was going in all sort of weird directions, I was at 20 cm away from her cute round bottom.

Shaking my head, I tried to get rid of those thoughts, but at the moment, I was a bit too excited from seeing Nanya wearing a tattered armor that revealed enough skin to make any man howl. The idea that she might be wearing only THAT brought a whole new batch of perverted thoughts into my useless noggin.

“I wonder if she’s actually wearing any?” I said out-loud without even realizing.

“Master?” asked Shanteya confused.

“Nanya. Panties.” I replied.

“Ara?” the el’doraw looked over at the teenage-looking girl.

Her cheeks went red, her fists clenched in anger, and she ordered “Illsy, fly in front of us. NOW!”

I gulped and did as told.

Me and my big mouth… If I didn’t say anything, I could have continued to enjoy the view… I thought and let out a long sigh.

After we reached the infirmary, I placed down Rufus in one of the empty beds and went to call Paladinus and Zertan. They needed to know the state their colleagues were in. Honestly speaking, I felt a bit bad that they were in such a bad shape, but at the same time, I was glad that my little dungeon managed to cause trouble for Emperor Ranks right from the first floor.

Once the other teachers arrived there, they began to brew some potions to give them, but Paladinus was trying hard to abstain from laughing when he looked at Tuberculus’ face. Without hair on top of his head, beard, and eyebrows, he looked rather funny. My only guess as to how he got like that was that he tried to grope Nanya when she wasn’t looking, and he got tossed face-first into one of my fire traps.

While they were doing that, I remained there and watched over them.

“Nanya?” I asked timidly.

“What is it, Illsy?” she asked in a sharp tone of voice, without turning around.

Yup, she’s pissed…

“Erm…” I looked at Paladinus and Zertan, they weren’t listening to us. “I could heal them with my divine aura…” I told her.

“Divine aura?” Nanya asked raising an eyebrow.

“I have a healing one, but they need to be close to my Crystal Body. Listen, I’m really sorry about what happened… I didn’t mean to harm any of you like that. I actually thought you were going to speed run through my whole dungeon in a matter of hours, maybe less… I’m sorry.” I said in a sincere tone of voice.

Nanya remained silent for a moment and then let out a long sigh. Turning around, she looked in my direction.

“Illsy, we’re not mad at you… Actually, it’s our fault for overestimating our abilities, especially Angius over there. He’s supposed to be a Berserker Warrior, but he came dressed up like a mage.” she scratched the back of her head. “You are quite a powerful Dungeon Lord, and that dungeon, even if I nearly got fried by it, is incredible! It really puts an adventurer’s skills to the test, but it’s far from what our fledglings at the academy can handle. Actually, I’ll bet an entire month’s worth of my homemade cookies that none of those kids will manage to get past the lava corridor! A quarter of them will barely be able to get past the arrow and spike traps! Nyahaha!” she laughed.

Paladinus and Zertan looked back at her.

“So, I failed, right?” I asked and looked down at the floor.

It was obvious I got too excited with building my very first dungeon and ended up turning it into something too dangerous for the students at the academy. Most of them were barely at Beginner Rank, while the rest a weak Intermediary or Advanced Rank.

Why didn’t I see this obvious fact? I asked myself as I thought how all of my work was going to go to waste now, but then Nanya said something to raise my spirits.

“Regarding the dungeon for the students, yes. Most definitely! I don’t want any of our students entering that sadistic death trap! However, it wasn’t for nothing. We can use dungeons like that one to test out various adventurers. Under your careful supervision and with me or an Emperor Rank teacher acting as a guide for them, they will be able to assess their own skills before going to challenge a dungeon on another continent, which will show a clear intent of turning them into mince meat.” she smirked. “That’s a good way to pay our bills, you know? It’ll also make the academy famous! Emperor Rank adventurers don’t really have a place to test out their skills, especially since the Great Paramanium Empire declared the Ancestral Dungeon to be under their protection. The strongest one here, in Sharoya Kingdom, is currently you, but the official one is a level 228 Demonic and is currently located right next to the ocean. It’s the only underwater dungeon on the continent, but far weaker when compared to the one in Paramanium.” she explained shaking her head.

“Is that so?” I blinked a bit surprised.

“Yes, and I want you to continue building more levels for that dungeon of yours, but next time we go inside, you’ll go with us and warn us of traps and such. At the same time, I want you to build a couple of others which mimic different dungeon races of various difficulty levels. I’ll be there to guide you through on what you are and aren’t allowed to add to them, so don’t worry about going overboard again! Although, I’ll be honest with you, Illsy! I’m actually a bit curious about what sort of dungeon you would be able to build when you reach level 100 or 200! Nyahaha!” she laughed again and showed me a bright smile.

Huh? What? I thought.

Nanya’s suggestion took me by surprise. I was expecting her to be mad at me or even force me to destroy my dungeon, but instead, she wanted me to keep working on it and even build others. I was left speechless.

“Is Illsyore’s dungeon that hard?” asked Paladinus who drew a black, swirly mustache on Tuberculus’ face.

“Yup! It’s a real nightmare! It’ll get your adventurer blood boiling and make you scream for your mommy before you reach the end! Nihihi! Ah! But if you want to try it out, wait until Illsy fixes what we broke inside of it.” said Nanya with a big grin on her face.

“Broke? What did you break?” I asked a bit worried.

“Nyahaha! I lost count after the 20th trap!” she declared pushing her chest forward as if she was bragging with what she did.

“20? Ha… ha… my poor dungeon…” I sniffled and tried not to think about what I was going to find when I went there the following day.

“Oi! Paladinus!” called out Nanya to the old adventurer.

“Hm?” he turned around to look at her.

“You forgot the monobrow!” she said placing a finger between her eyebrows and then showing him a smirk.

“How could I forget?! By the gods! How shameless of me!” said Paladinus.

I blinked surprised and wondered what they were talking about, but then I saw the 40 years-old man using a small brush dipped in black ink to draw a straight line on Tuberculus’ face.

Really? Your friend is laying there half singed because of me, and you are drawing a monobrow and a swirling mustache on his face? I thought, but upon a closer look, I found it to be quite funny and let out a small giggle.

“Won’t he be mad when he wakes up?” I asked.

“Nah! It’s not the first time! Besides, it’s his fault for putting so little Magic Energy into his armor!” declared Paladinus, who added the same type of monobrow to Angius as well.

“Nanya, you also mentioned it before, but what’s this Magic Armor you are talking about?” I asked surprised.

In that moment everyone who was awake there gave me a strange look, even Shanteya.

“What? Did I say something weird?” I asked.

“Illsy? You really don’t know about Magic Armor?” she asked me.

“Erm… no? Is it a spell?” I replied.

“No, it’s…” Paladinus tried to explain, but Nanya raised her hand up, and he stopped.

“Illsy…” she said and took a deep breath “Magic Armor isn’t a skill or spell, it’s the act of infusing one’s body and later the armor itself with their own Magic Energy. It acts as a barrier against any type of attack, be it magical or physical in nature. It can help you survive where it’s too cold to stand or too hot to even try. It can even purify the air you breathe in and make sure you don’t inhale poison, but this is for more advanced users.” she explained calmly.

“Huh? So, that’s why all of your clothes are burned, but you don’t have any injuries on your body?” I asked.

“Yes! You got it! I even fell in the lava and didn’t melt away! Nyahaha! But those fools over there underestimated the number of attacks and monsters in the maze and ended up like that. The last boss was a bit of a surprise though… It was what you would usually find on the 30th or 40th floor of the Ancestral Dungeon.” she told me with a laugh.

Nanya seemed to be in a good mood. It was a bit weird, especially seeing how mad she was at me when she walked out of my dungeon. Guess her advanced age wasn’t just for show. She looked like a teenager, but she was still a 543 years-old Storm Witch.

Wait a second… Didn’t she say back then that she was an Emperor Rank? I thought and blinked surprised.

“Nanya… erm, back when we met… You said you were a 543 years-old Emperor Rank Storm Witch, but you are actually a Godlike?” I asked her a bit cautiously.

I just remembered! It’s not a very polite or good idea to ask a woman her age, but… I thought and gulped.

“Ara? Did I say that?” she asked scratching her cheek.

“Yes.”

“543 years-old? A Storm Witch? Pfft! BUHAHAHA!” Paladinus burst into a loud laughter, which woke up Rufus.

“Bananas! Rats! No! I shall conquer the chair and stalk the bathroom! Eh? Pigeons? Ugh!” and after his incoherent babbling, Nanya threw a book at his face, knocking him out and sending back to his weird dream.

“Was that necessary?” I asked.

“Not really, but any of you have a problem with that?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

Shanteya and Paladinus shook their heads, and I just blinked surprised.

“OK, so… if you aren’t what you said you are, then what?” I asked.

Nanya let out a long sigh and revealed her tail. It was the same one I saw back then, it even had the same red ribbon tied as a decoration on the tip and untouched from the ordeal in the dungeon.

“I’m not a human.” she said bluntly.

“You don’t say?” I said it mimicking a certain well known meme.

She raised an eyebrow. It was my only warning.

“I am, indeed, a Godlike Rank in buff magic. As for my age, I’m 147, not 543… the numbers should have been a dead giveaway that I was lying.” she shrugged calmly. As for what I am, well… let’s just say it’s complicated! Nyahaha!” she laughed and waved her tail.

Upon closer look, I noticed it was covered in smooth V-shaped black scales and tapered towards the end. The red ribbon felt a bit off, though.

“You’re never going to tell us what you are, right?” Paladinus asked.

“Nope! It’s secret!” she showed him the tip of her tongue.

Cute! I thought for a moment.

Looking at her tail and remembering how some stories I read back on Earth went, I was inclined to believe that she was probably of a very special secret race, maybe one discriminated against by the inhabitants of this continent?

Either way, Nanya was still far older than me and probably anyone else in that room, but if I were to guess, I would say she was a human hybrid of some sort. Knowing that didn’t make me see her in any way different. I had no problems with Shanteya being an el’doraw either, after all, I was sleeping in her arms almost every night now.

“But yeah, don’t tell anyone about this.” she smiled back at me, but she held a bit of a sad gaze in her eyes.

I wonder if she’s worried that people will look at her differently if they find out what she actually is? I thought and told her with a calm voice “I won’t.”

“Thank you.” she showed me a bright smile.

After that, we returned to nursing the three old men back to health. Zertan’s potions did the job and as long as Nanya didn’t decide to play whack-a-mole with them, they would all stay conscious.

To my surprise, I found out that despite the terror they went through in my dungeon, they didn’t bear any grudges. On the other hand, Paladinus had to leave quickly when Tuberculus and Angius discovered his work of art.

With this, the incident regarding the first time ever exploration of my dungeon was over. There were no casualties except Tuberculus’ beard and eyebrows, but their sacrifice was not in vain, probably… maybe… yeah, it was. At the very least, I got to see a bit Nanya’s bare booty! Arrr!