The Crafter's Dilemma: A Dungeon Core Novel (Dungeon Crafting Book 3) by Jonathan Brooks (english readers txt) 📗

whether or not there was an ulterior motive behind all of the “crafting” still had to be determined.  Just because those stronger than her were convinced of the dungeon’s benevolence, that didn’t mean there wasn’t something sinister going on.

For the moment, though, Echo was inclined to believe most – if not all – of the information she had been given; not only was she alive when she should probably be dead, but she was also told that she wasn’t a prisoner and could leave at any time.  At least, that was what this “Sandra” had told her, though how the young Elf was supposed to find her way out of the strange place she found herself in was something else entirely.

The “tour” she took around the dungeon inadvertently helped to expand her knowledge of her whereabouts; after eating what she could of fruit from the trees inside the Growing Room, she was shown different workshops that seemed capable of making hundreds or thousands of different items.  Not only that, but she was shown a storage room of sorts that held a myriad of different finished products; the sheer amount of knowledge needed to make the different types of weapons and few pieces of armor she saw was impressive enough, but she was also told that Sandra had produced many other items from their most basic, raw forms – like thread, cloth, and wood.

The workstations themselves were unique in the fact that they could apparently function and operate with the use of an elemental power that the dungeon called Mana; she was shown a forge that could heat up without having to use any type of visible energy source, the finishing station had grinding wheels that spun automatically, and even a crude saw connected to a table would rotate without any obvious means so that it could be used to cut and shape wood.  There were other things in the rooms she was shown that she had no idea their importance even after having them explained to her, but they obviously did what they were intended for.

The only thing that was missing – which she thought odd – was any sight of the unique dungeon monsters that Sandra possessed.  There was currently no one – or no thing – working at the crafting workstations, despite the dungeon…Core’s…obvious enthusiasm over every part of her production rooms.  Echo had to admit that what was built underground in the wastelands was impressive, but she was starting to have serious doubts about the truthfulness of the dungeon…because there didn’t seem to be any crafting going on.

At least, not until she arrived at a room that made her stomach growl before she even entered. Echo inhaled the delicious smell of cooking meat that had a unique scent accompanying it; fortunately, “unique” didn’t mean bad, just different.  When she finally arrived in what appeared to be some sort of cooking area, she got her first glimpse of a dungeon monster – and it was unlike anything she had seen before.

It was approximately three feet tall and looked vaguely like a person; it had a head, two arms, two legs, and a torso – but that was where the similarities ended.  Just like the others she had seen outside of the dungeon, it appeared to be made completely out of metal and moved smoothly without any apparent source of energy – though its range of motion was more limited than a living person’s.  Despite that, it was easily moving a few copper pans – and well-made copper pans at that – around on top of an obviously heated cooking surface.  In one, she could see – and smell – a fairly good-sized hunk of meat that appeared almost done cooking; in the other were two, smaller chunks of meat that smelled just as delicious.

* Go ahead and take a seat; the food will be done soon. *

Tearing her gaze away from the dungeon monster that was cooking – which was something that she never thought she would see – she saw that there was a rather short table on the other side of the room made completely out of stone. Accompanying the table were three chairs, two of which were small – as if made for children; the other seemed more normal-sized, though still on the small side.  Probably so it can fit under the table, which also seems a bit small for my liking.  Echo didn’t mind, though, because her stomach growled loudly again; apparently it didn’t care where she sat, as long as it was getting food.

Immediately after she took her seat, Echo started to stare at the strange dungeon monster cooking food; however, before more than a half a minute passed, she heard voices over the sizzling meat sounds coming from a tunnel she hadn’t been down yet.  She tensed up when she didn’t recognize the language they were speaking, though for some reason it almost sounded familiar – but she couldn’t place it.

* Calm down, relax, and don’t worry – it’s just Violet and Felbar coming to eat with you…I did tell you about them, didn’t I? *

Sandra sounded genuinely confused, as if she was sure she mentioned them.  “No, you certainly did not.  Who are they?”  As soon as she spoke aloud, the voices coming down from the tunnel stopped, though her keen hearing could pinpoint whoever owned them still walking closer.  Echo went to grab the dagger at her side, but she belatedly realized she was completely unarmed; instead, she snatched one of the sharp steel knives that were on the table, which she assumed were there to help cut the meat the dungeon monster was cooking.

* Oh, they’re two of the— *

“Gnomes,” she finished for the dungeon, as two small figures walked into the room suspiciously.  One was a young-looking woman that seemed harmless, while the other was a grizzled older man that appeared to have