~ Chapter 69: The secret plan ~

[Illsyore’s point of view]

It’s been almost four months since Zoreya became part of our little group. With her help, we were able to travel safely throughout the entire continent and complete a lot of quests. Rumors of the once unruly prince from Aunnar Kingdom who turned his blade against slavery reached far and wide, especially since he himself began to hunt down those who defied this law.

It appeared that the unspoken part of the curse activated. I never thought he would reach so far, but it appeared as though his desire to live was greater than his pride. I was now genuinely curious to see how Reynolds would turn out in the following years as well as how the entire Aunnar Kingdom would change.

Regarding the academies and other libraries spread throughout the entire continent, they were quite lacking in both content and quantity of books. The Royal Library in the Tesuar Kingdom was ridiculously thin.

About how we got in, let’s just say that while everyone was asleep, there was a certain Dungeon Lord and sneaky el’doraw who went inside and ‘borrowed’ a couple of their books.

At first, we did try the old fashion way of going in and requesting the right to see it, but since none of us was a recognized noble of this country, we weren’t allowed in. They also said something as ridiculous as only nobles were allowed to study those books, peasants had no such right. In their eyes we were peasants. Even Ayuseya’s status wasn’t recognized, while Zoreya had no power even as an Apostle of a god. This was something she wasn’t worried about, but which we found to be rather ridiculous, seeing how they had a dedicated Temple of War and all.

At least, this king didn’t try to kidnap my wives and slaves, but I was itching to blow up his castle too, however, after seeing the state of his so-called Royal Library, I changed my mind. He wasn’t worth the energy. It had only six bookcases with eight shelves each. A third of their books were copies of others, and the most interesting one I could find was about the Draconian-Human war that ended several centuries ago. Ayuseya’s ancestor, the one who received the curse, did quite a number on humans thanks to his abnormal power. The legend written in that book told of how humans, el’doraw, and elves joined forces in order to stop his onslaught. Eventually, they were almost defeated, but then the humans found a curse book in a dungeon and used it to curse the Draconian King. The curse worked, but the sacrifices made rendered the entire country at that time defenseless. It was absorbed into the small country of Tesuar at that time.

The legend was a bit different from what Ayuseya told me, but the story was probably told differently depending on each kingdom’s point of view. It was highly likely that the Paramanium Empire and Shoraya Kingdom also had different versions of it from the Teslov one.

Either way, all kingdoms eventually rose to power from nothing and then fell when their power diminished enough for others to strike a victory against them. Of course, back on Earth, things weren’t as fast and dramatic as they were here. There’s also the fact that the Medieval Age of this world persisted over thousands of years.

Regarding technology, because all the species of this world were more or less dependent on it, none of them bothered to research non-magic technology. When I asked this of Ayuseya and explained how a gun would work, her question was as follows:

“Why should we waste hundreds of years to develop a weapon that shoots a lead pebble, when magic spells produce a far better result?”

When I tried to explain that developing technology would allow non-magic users to have a better life, she asked me this:

“Can’t a non-magic user hire a magic user to help him with what he needs?”

Although in my mind it was logical as to why technology should be developed, especially medicine and the like, it was hard to convince anyone that magic couldn’t do it better, especially when I was a living proof of that fact. Everything I did and built was through magic, even my AGLMC used only a scientific concept applied to Magic-Created devices. In the end, I gave up on trying to explain it.

At this rate, they would reach the Earth’s equivalent of Information Age in roughly 20-30 thousand years, give or take a few centuries. This was only because there weren’t enough people who focused on researching technology besides a few curious scholars here and there.

Meanwhile, I could only wonder what my wives would have to say once they found themselves in the middle of Tokyo, for example. Maybe then they would agree that researching technology was a good idea. It was hard to do so and required a lot of manpower, but little by little, like a gigantic puzzle, everything would fit together and give birth to wonders such as the Personal Computer, Smartphone, and most importantly Cat Videos on the Internet!

That being said, I came to the conclusion that Fellyore Magic Academy was probably a one-of-a-kind institution because of its lack of restriction on species who could join. They didn’t place a requirement on their social status either, and I could say that even their teaching methods were different from those I’ve seen in other academies here. They had a very stiff and weird way of teaching their students. Thinking out of the box or by examples were methods considered uncommon by many and preposterous by others. Witnessing this led me to believe that Tuberculus was more of a genius than he let out to be.

This also meant that I had to be on the lookout for possible teachers. Hiring the boring old men who thought in those academies was out of the question. I really didn’t like their method of teaching. As for the students, I wasn’t going to be a noble-exclusive academy, a fact which was frowned upon in many kingdoms by the looks of it. Well, I was a Godlike Dungeon Lord, it mattered not for me.

“Why should we allow the peasants to learn the fine arts of nobles?” was the usual reply I received when I asked them about it.

Surprisingly, during these past four months, we didn’t encounter any unexpected circumstances like we did back in Aunnar Kingdom. Bandits or monster attacks were fairly common, however, just one look at Zoreya or Nanya in her real form was enough to turn the brave men into cowardly mice. Few were those who decided to attack us, but then Shanteya pummeled them into the ground.

If by some chance, an unfortunate fellow pointed at me and insulted me, all three of my wives jumped on him. At that time, me and Zoreya released a calm prayer for the soul of the unfortunate bastard. Tamara would refrain from doing so and only released a cute giggle.

Speaking of which, the relationship between Zoreya and the girls was getting better and better with each passing day. Lately, she had been smiling and laughing a lot. At first, she was like a rock, unchanging and unwavering no matter what we said unless I started to tease her or tickled her, but if my jokes went to far, I received a shield drop on my head… and that thing was HEAVY!

The other thing I noticed about her was the fact that she was quite pretty. Despite being almost one century old, because she kept her young appearance, she looked as she did when she was twenty something. Well, I was not planning on making her my fourth wife, I was just admiring her beauty, a fact which went by completely unnoticed by her and easily spotted by my three wives.

I could swear, but those women had an ‘Illsy is looking at another woman’ radar. If my eyes just slightly moved towards the round behind of a cute elf passing by, I was then turned around by Shanteya. If I spotted a big breasted draconian, and by chance she threw me a gaze, Ayuseya embraced me, kissed me, then hissed at the poor woman. That was no exaggeration. She did exactly that.

When I questioned her about it, her reply was this “I’m just stating my dominance over you, and reminding other women that you’re mine, and I’m yours.”

As for Nanya… let’s just say she wasn’t worried about me slipping into another woman’s bed, but she had a lot of fun teasing the slightly jealous Shanteya and Ayuseya with it. That demoness was purposely asking me stuff like this:

“Does that woman have bigger breasts/looks better/is cutter than Shanteya/Ayuseya?”

The result was me turning my head out of reflex, and… I never learned.

During these past four months, something else happened though. I became more aware of when The Darkness was taking over me.

The first time this happened was during the first week when Zoreya became a part of our group. After a wild night with Shanteya, I woke up after she fell asleep. I could see as I always did, but I knew my body wasn’t controlled by me. I tried to, but I simply couldn’t do it.

What’s happening? What’s going on? I tried to scream in my mind.

“Just relax, Illsy… We’re just going to have some fun. That’s all.” The Darkness spoke with my voice and then looked down at the naked el’doraw sleeping beside me.

I feared the worst, but he didn’t seem interested in trying to get his hands on her.

“Let’s go build a dungeon now, shall we?” he grinned and then got out of bed.

After getting dressed, we jumped out the window and used a spell I never saw before. It made us light as a feather, but also invisible to the naked eye.

Once we were out of the city, we kept running at maximum speed for about twenty minutes or so. There were at least fifty kilometers between us and the city where we decided to spend the night.

“This should be a nice place! Watch and learn, human!” he said and thus began the construction of the dungeon.

One thing I had to say… he was terrible at making complicated and terribly hard dungeons, but I didn’t bother to point this out to him. After he was done, he built the Dungeon Core Room and scribbled the laws of Dungeons on the walls.

Translated, they sounded something like this:

-Dungeons are the natural enemies of all other sapient species out there.

-Dungeons don’t need and don’t have friends.

-Dungeons make use of all other sapient species by controlling and turning them into slaves.

-Dungeons don’t need emotions and don’t need to love. Use these emotions against the sapient species.

-Dungeons are superior to all others.

And the list of very narcissistic and egoistic laws continued. However, every time he built a dungeon from then on, the laws slowly changed towards sadistic and extensive hate against other species. Another thing I noticed was the fact that he used sentient and not sapient. For me, they both sounded and meant the same thing. I didn’t even bother to wonder if there was any meaningful difference between the two terms, maybe there was in my past life, but I couldn’t remember what was it.

Weeks later, the laws The Darkness scribbled on the walls began to include stuff like this:

-Dungeons MUST kill every living being that dare to cross their territory.

-Dungeons MUST torture to DEATH all living beings who enter their territory.

And these were some of the non-descriptive ones. But more importantly, it didn’t matter to him if they were just some poor animals or adventurers. If it was breathing and living, then it was an enemy without exception.

Usually, after he relinquished control over my body, which extended only to a mere six hours, I returned to the Dungeon Core Rooms and changed the words to something that wasn’t so sadistic and tyrannical.

I knew that new Dungeons were born with a predetermined set of laws in their minds, so I couldn’t influence them too much. Instead, what I did was add laws that spoke of offering a chance to adventurers to prove their worth as well as tips on how a Dungeon could find its own moral compass.

Of course, The Darkness wasn’t too happy with me doing this, so from time to time, I found myself speaking out of term with someone or threatening with death someone else.

My wives didn’t seem to have noticed, but I was getting worried, and I feared this was turning dangerous. The only one I could confide in was Ayuseya, but she had no idea how to help me either.

About three months after Zoreya joined us, I was seriously starting to show that I was losing control, and I feared for the lives of my wives.

I still indulged in nights spent in their naked bosom, but lately, I was starting to fear that The Darkness would take over in the middle of it, and the one who offered them a good time was going to be that thing inside of me, not me.

Nights with Ayuseya were spent talking more about what I was going through rather than naked and indulging in carnal desires. I still satisfied her from time to time during the day, but I always feared a sudden loss of control.

After a while, I began to avoid sleeping with them altogether. The last time I spent with any of them was a few days ago… or was it today? It was hard to remember for some reason. Lately, whenever night time approached, my head was usually getting heavy and my vision blurry.

My only question now was: How long could I keep this a secret, and for how long will I be in control of my own body?

[Ayuseya’s point of view]

A month after Zoreya joined us, me and Nanya pulled Tamara and Shanteya to the side and told them about what was happening to Illsy. To our surprise, we found out that she too noticed a strange change in his behavior.

There was something else we noticed, while he was unaware off. The crystal on his chest was slowly cracking and turning from his beautiful light green to a dark, blurry red. Even when Tamara pointed it out, it didn’t seem like he could see it. Shanteya noticed the first crack during that night when he proposed to her.

Without a doubt, Illsy was losing control, and we were desperately trying to find a way to help him regain it. We didn’t want to lose our husband, our lover. He saved us once, now it was our time to save him, but we ran into a dead end.

None of the books or stories we heard matched anything that was happening with Illsy. First of all, he was a Godlike Dungeon Lord, and he was a something akin to a Legendary existence. Second of all, no one ever heard of something like the Darkness or the process of creating a Dungeon, they were complete mysteries on this side of the continent.

Thus, we focused on the only other entities who could help us… the gods.

“Aaand that’s why we wanted to talk with you…” said Nanya with a wry smile as she looked at Zoreya.

Indeed, the serious woman was our only bet, our only clue regarding to what we could do to save our beloved Illsy. We wanted The Darkness gone and our man free. Even if he lost all of his power, even if he became nothing more than a simple, Normal Dungeon Core, we wanted him to regain his personality, to be our beloved Illsy, not this thing he was slowly turning into.

“I see…” said the human crusader as she looked with a serious gaze in her eyes at us.

We told her everything we knew from the very beginning and all the way until now.

“Well, do you think you can help us?” I asked worryingly.

“I’m sorry, but I never heard of anything like this either. It never even occurred to me that there was something like a spell or ritual to create a Dungeon.” she replied shaking her head.

“So… is Master not going to be Master anymore?” Tamara asked as she looked up at the el’doraw with worried eyes.

“I don’t know, little one… I don’t know.” Shanteya replied and gently petted her furry head.

“Where is he now?” Zoreya asked.

“He left two hours ago.” Nanya crossed her arms at her chest and closed her eyes. “As soon as he believed I was asleep, he turned and left.”

“The same thing happened to me four days ago.” said Shanteya.

“I have indeed saw him leave several times, but then he used a strange spell and vanished from my senses. Upon questioning the following day, it was like he completely ignored my words.” Zoreya nodded.

“I see…” I said.

“It may not be hopeless though…” said Zoreya as she rubbed her chin.

“What do you mean?” Nanya asked.

“If I reach one of the many Temples of War on this continent, then I can ask Melkuth himself about a possible cure.” she nodded and then looked back at me “This might have been the actual reason why I was told by him to travel with all of you and simply observe. Even I could tell that Illsyore wasn’t a normal Dungeon, he was… he is a good person.” she said.

“Indeed… He is.” Shanteya nodded.

“Master is good. Master always gave Tamara fish!” said the little one.

“Then, what are we going to do?” I asked.

“We’ll go towards this Temple of War. Which one is the closest?” Nanya asked.

“That would be the one in the city of Teyarion in Tesuar Kingdom.” said Zoreya.

“Araaa… I wonder if the king is still mad at us for breaking into his library and stealing his worthless books like that?” Nanya wondered as she scratched her right cheek.

“They should be unaware of who we are. Besides, we have Zoreya here, who is a Supreme. Even if they found out somehow that Shanteya and Illsy were the thieves who broke into the Royal Library, they wouldn’t dare to attack us while she is in our party.” I explained.

“That is quite true.” she nodded.

“That didn’t stop Prince Reynolds from attacking Master?” Tamara pointed out while tilting her head to the left and looking up at Shanteya.

“The Prince was unaware of our capabilities at that time, but attacking an Apostle of Melkuth is the same as attacking the Temple of War and challenging Melkuth himself. No kingdom will be so foolish.” explained Shanteya.

“That is indeed true.” Zoreya nodded.

“Hey… could it be that the reason no one tried to pick a fight with us was because of you?” Nanya squinted her eyes at the crusader.

“It is quite possible that we are under the protection of my god, Melkuth.” she didn’t deny it.

“Well, I guess it’s good then… Sigh.” the demoness scratched the back of her head and then turned her gaze towards me. “So, Teyarion is our next destination?” she asked.

I nodded.

Everyone came to a mutual agreement. In order to save our beloved husband, we would all aim for the only clue and chance we had, that of praying to a God. Even so, I was worried if it would actually work or not, but I had to have faith in Zoreya, who was Melkuth’s Apostle. If even she couldn’t get the god to listen to our prayer, then who could?

The following day, after Illsy returned, we marched towards Tesuar Kingdom.