The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (free e books to read .txt) 📗

The sun was starting to set outside of her dungeon, so she knew it was unlikely that anyone would be coming at that point.  Raiders tended to like being able to see their way into and out of her dungeon, and while some few of them could see in the dark like a Dungeon Fairy, from what she had learned they preferred to stick to daytime hours.

“I don’t know.  It seems as though the Raiders were enjoying your dungeon, so I can’t see a reason for their absence,” Shale said, scratching his head in confusion from her Core Room.  “Do you want me to go take a look?”

If you don’t mind, that would be excellent.  I’m starting to get worried that I’ve done something to raise their ire and that they are calling up some sort of execution group to destroy me.  As he was leaving, she didn’t forget to mention, Stay safe, though – and be careful!

Instead of flying all the way out of her dungeon, Shale instead used his Translocation ability to disappear near her Core and appear…somewhere…outside.  She could only see what was outside of her dungeon entrance – which was a nice view of the nearby mountainside, but not much else.  She waited for a few minutes before she heard Shale’s voice in her mind.

“Ok, so I think I figured out what the hold-up is.”

What is it? she asked in a panic.  She couldn’t tell from his tone if it were something bad or not.  Should I be worried?

“Uh…no, not really.  Unless being extremely popular is worrisome to you?”  Now Tacca could hear some amusement in his mental voice.

She felt more relief at his words, glad that it wasn’t something to be concerned about.  Not particularly.  Tell me what you see.

“Well, you might not believe this, but…”

Tacca listened to him describe what he saw, and he was right – she barely believed him.  If that’s true, then this is even better than I thought.

*         *         *

Sterge collapsed on his bed as the darkness of the night fell over The Village, his physical exhaustion almost more than he could handle.  He could only imagine how the other villagers were coping with the extreme labor they were putting out each and every day; he at least got a small boost in his strength and general endurance from his status as a Level 2 Raider.  He had to admit that it didn’t really feel like it made much difference, especially over the last week and a half of constant construction, hauling of materials, and with the incessant “dealing with people” who needed his input or acceptance of something.

Fortunately, he was able to pass off most of those social requirements to Gwenda, who was happy enough to get away from the physical work for a little bit to deftly handle those situations.  Of course, that just meant that he wasn’t taking a break, but he preferred hard labor over talking with people – especially the entitled attitudes of some of the Raiders who had arrived.

The flow of large numbers of Raiders had begun a few days ago, which was approximately when they had expected it – being a week or so after the two Hill Dwarves had reported its location.  It was one of the reasons Sterge and the other villagers had been working so hard for such long hours, so that they could finish accommodations for everyone.  After getting the initial Inn set up, which was frequented by various Raider groups that arrived for a day or two to try out the dungeon he and Gwenda had found, they had begun creating a second, and then a third Inn right next door to each other.  Some of the other villagers thought that was too many and would be wasted, but the Delver Clan’s representative, Jesper, seemed to think that even three Inns weren’t going to be quite enough.

“After hearing the initial investigation report, which I can nearly guarantee has been spread far and wide by this point, you’re not going to have a few dozen Raiders arriving, or even a few hundred – think thousands,” he had told Sterge and Gwenda one night.  “At any time, there are tens of thousands of Clan members in the Level range that would benefit from this dungeon, with more enlisting all the time.  Now, not all of them are going to journey this far south, but I can easily picture the lower half of Abenlure streaming down here for the chance to run through a dungeon that they don’t have to pay through the nose to delve through.  Hiring Clan members to help you survive in more-dangerous dungeons is expensive, though it certainly does work – and it works quickly.  However, other than the members of the Ministry of Merchants and some other well-off members of society, very few people can afford that kind of assistance.”

He’d heard of the Ministry before, but they were so far above his station that he never thought he’d see one of the merchant leaders.  They were reportedly so powerful and rich that it would take thousands of lifetimes of farming without spending any money to equal what they had available to spend, so they were almost mythical in that respect.  It was hard to imagine having that kind of wealth, so to Sterge it was almost like they were a made-up fantasy.

Speaking of merchants, a few days ago a traveling peddler named Atero wandered by.  This, in and of itself, was a first for The Village.  Surprisingly, he offered to run a Delving Supply Store after he heard about the dungeon being found nearby.  Sterge knew nothing about running a store like that, though some of the others negotiated with the down-on-his luck merchant to run a place once they built it.  The peddler jumped at the chance, even for a small percentage of the