Dungeon Heart 03 - Hell Gate, page 22
“Not a bad start…” Smit admitted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Any extra time was a welcomed extension. It would give him time to prepare.
“With that time,” Vas continued, “I can at least gather some troops. It won’t be an extremely extensive army, but even a few well trained squads will go a long way with adequate preparations. I can also start developing the town of Nam into something more… adequate. They suffered quite a bit of damage from Klax’s horde passing through it, so now is just as good a time as any.”
“Bold of you to assume the demons won't wreck house if they see any humans near the dungeon,” Smit grunted. “Actually, it’s even bolder of you to expect anyone is going to stay put with demons around the corner.”
Vas barked a laugh, and smiled broadly. “You think too little of those villagers. I already offered them help to evacuate. Take a guess at how many took the offer.”
“All of them?” Smit asked incredulously. What could a mere villager do against a demon anyway? It was only natural they would run.
“No! Almost none of them actually!” the king said with glee. “After seeing those monstrosities and what they did to their village, they were enraged more than anything. Said that running would do them no good if they were going to be hunted down anyway. I am not sure where they got the idea that the demons were going to follow them like bloodhounds, but they insist on protecting their home and families. Stubborn lot they are, those people. Hardy too, and fiercely protective of their families. You should have seen the eyes of the fathers and mothers when someone brought up that the demons could follow them. Oh they had warrior's blood boiling in them, I tell yah!”
“I second that!” Ikfes said with a satisfied nod. “Ah, the looks of the determined… it really shows how much they love their family. I don’t think I have ever seen a mother more ready to pick up a sword, or a father to learn the spear. I suppose it makes sense, even amongst all the cheering from surviving, there were lots of grateful tears. Never underestimate the love a parent has for their child, eh?”
“Alright, simmer down,” Smit said after he got over the surprising news. That… didn’t quite make too much sense to him. God knows that if he could have taken his children and disappeared to the other corner of the world he would have instead of having to deal with this situation. Then again, he didn’t have that option, and neither did the peasants. Still, he could relate more than he would care to admit. The idea of losing his family was too terrible to bear. “Bunch of weird people is what they are, choosing to fight instead of going to safety,” he said. “No, perhaps instead of weird it might be better to say they are quite possibly mad.”
“Bah, don’t be like that!” Vas said eagerly. “Though I suppose I can’t blame you; you aren’t even human. See, in their eyes, all they know is that monstrous beings had chased them like bloodhounds all night without any reason, and said monsters destroyed their homes. Who is to say it won’t happen again? And if those monsters could chase them down once, why would they not do it twice? Better to make a stand and go down protecting their loved ones than watch them being torn limb from limb and then following them into the afterlife.”
Smit sat quietly for a moment after that, considering what he would do if that was him. The king had no idea just how much his new family meant to Smit. No, more accurately, the king didn’t even know he had a family, and thus his words hit quite close to home.
“Right… Anyway,” Smit said finally. “Then it would be probably more beneficial to build up their defenses where they are now, in case the demons decide to make a detour to the village. At the same time, make a stronghold around the entrance to the dungeon, even if it’s just a small fortification made of timber. That way your people will have a place to defend from before making a dash into the dungeon if things get too messy.”
“Not a bad suggestion,” Vas admitted as he looked over at Ikfes. “Ikfes will get the word out to his adventurers too. We can probably attract some of the bolder ones in the right time frame with the appropriate stories and bounties. Many of them are glory hunters, seeking to make a name for themselves. Being able to boast about slaying demons might do the trick for some of them. Ikfes will also personally stay here to help protect the area if anything should go wrong. And…”
“And…?” Smit asked, watching the king hesitate and then look at him significantly.
“And what about you?” Ikfes asked bluntly. “You are at the heart of this conflict. You should be able to prepare and contribute too, right?”
“Naturally,” Smit replied. “So you want to know what I can do to facilitate this, correct?”
“That’s right,” Ikfes nodded.
“Well, there are a few things that can be done,” Smit replied. “First, I believe I told the king that my forte was production. Though you probably figured that out yourself by now. Weapons, ores, stone, equipment. I can produce them quite easily as long as I have the right materials. Lucky for you, I have a surplus of stone at least, and I can get basic metals easily enough. If you get me better materials and rare ores, I can make even better things.”
“What about your growth?” Ikfes jumped in, his eyes twinkling in delight. “Can you make more interesting stuff?”
Smit looked at him with a measuring eye for a second, weighing his words carefully in his mind. “If you are asking if I can grow my dungeon more, yes I can, and I can also make more and stronger monsters, if I have enough time and resources.”
“So you could add more floors?” Vas asked quickly.
“Potentially,” Smit replied tentatively. “I am not sure if a month or two is enough to reach the point where I can increase my dungeon again. But I may be able to.”
“Hmm…” Vas said thoughtfully, stroking his beard as he considered the possibilities. “Then you could produce stone for us to create some fortifications?”
“Naturally,” Smit replied, almost offended by the fact that the king had to ask if he could provide something as simple as blocks of stone.
“Good. That alone is enough,” Vas said with a nod. “So let's do this. Since Ikfes will stay here while I head back to the capital, he can act as go between for you and me. He can come by every week and relay information for you and me, making sure preparations are going smoothly. This also will allow him to familiarize himself with the dungeon, so he can help plan an escape route for the troops if the demons push them too hard. Moreover, if you can develop more and you can produce more useful stuff, you can relay it to him. I’ll be sure to send you materials as soon as I can too. The sooner you can create superior equipment, the better.”
“Works for me,” Smit grunted. “I have enough bronze to begin working on some starter weapons for the villagers. You can probably have them come and train on the first and second floor if they are planning on creating a militia. Ah, though they should take adventurers to the second floor. I’ll temporarily adjust the hall there to be a bit less… effective.”
“Excellent!” the king boomed, rubbing his hands with excitement. It was finally starting to feel like a true alliance now.
“Now, what do we do if they actually break through your little defenses?” Smit asked. “Building some fortifications and training villagers is good and all, but we are dealing with demons here.”
“In that event, you better have some stronger creatures by then,” Vas said with a tired smile, his excitement noticeably dying down. “Because if they can push through every defense and obstacle, we are going to have to mount a final line of defense in your dungeon somewhere. And if that fails, well…”
“No pressure, huh?” Smit grunted. He could already foresee the huge amount of work he had ahead of him.
The weeks following the eventful attack on Smit’s dungeon saw an explosive spread of what would come to be known as the tale of the Lion and the Dungeon. With hundreds of villagers to testify and over a dozen merchants that were present to spread the tale through their channels, the news spread before the king had even properly considered how to deal with the story. In a matter of weeks, the entire kingdom was aware of the massive attack on the village of Nam, and the story sung praises to the king and his entourage.
Bards would sing of the time that a mere handful of brave souls, led by the king and his allies, saved a village from an evil sorcerer that had sold its soul to the devils themselves. The brave heroes fought tooth and nail to save every citizen of the village, herding them into a young dungeon. The song dramatically painted the image of Ikfes and the king slaying beast after beast, the royal princesses holding back gruesome abominations, of royal knights and adventurers banding together to slay corrupted behemoths.
The bards dramatized the already exciting tale, and the people of the kingdom would invariably gasp when the bards came to the moment where all hope seemed lost. The valiant heroes were tired and injured, and the wicked sorcerer would summon the behemoths of corruption, the ace in the hole that it had kept for last. The bards said that it was then that the gods peered down at the benevolent king in his moment of need, and the very earth shook around him. They said that the gods themselves had taken pity on the brave warriors and their leader, moved by their selfless sacrifice and bravery. Because of their actions, the gods bent the dungeon to their will, and all its creatures came to their aid.
The final battle between the forces of good and evil culminated in a struggle between the evil sorcerer and the king’s allied forces when the last fearsome behemoth encountered a fearsome dungeon boss, who they said spewed fire from the mouth and only just barely managed to defeat the last behemoth with the help of the exhausted king. It was nothing short of dramatic, a fitting culminating point for the riveting saga. The story would surely become a classic that would withstand the ages, given the level of attention it was receiving from the public.
Of course, that wasn’t to say that everyone believed the story from the very beginning. On the contrary, it was doubted by the population at first, but that changed quickly. The catalyst for this change in perspective was the arrival of the king and his acolytes to the capital of the kingdom. The royal guard’s equipment seemed to be terribly damaged, and many of them sported scars on their bodies that seemed fresh. It wasn’t just the arrival to the capital that turned the citizens into believers, however; it was the entire journey back. As the entourage passed the different towns along the way, the story was proven true in the minds of the people just by the travelers’ tattered appearance alone. This fanned the fires of imagination of the people, as the younger generations and the bards speculated upon the nature of each wound.
By the time the king had actually returned to the side of his royal queen, half of the kingdom was buzzing with excitement at the new tale. The king had finally considered it pointless to try to deny the story, midway through his journey back home. Even if he had wished to hide the existence of the entire conflict, the news had traveled so fast that it was already too late. Worse, if he tried to silence it forcefully, the people would grow suspicious and it would be as good as admitting that everything that the bards said was true. Truly, just thinking about the matter gave him a headache.
His salvation came in the form of his beloved queen. Intelligent and wise, the queen offered a different method to tip the scales.
“If you can’t stop the story, why not skew it in your favor?” Queen Shana said. An answer so simple and yet effective that he could scarcely believe he had not thought of it first. He needed to start recruiting people anyway to fight the demons; why not use the rumors to his advantage? Few things spread faster than gossip after all.
To achieve this, the king told the queen the entire story without omitting anything, trusting her entirely as he always had. With her help, they concocted a plan to leak information to the masses about the situation of the story. They amplified the achievements of the king and his allies, stressed that the danger did not seem to have fully passed, and sent mixed responses about the role that the dungeon played, making it less certain to what extent the dungeon actually had interfered with the fight.
They did this not to steal glory from the dungeon, but rather to avoid bringing attention to the dungeon itself, as it had already been the source of many tales as of late. No good would come from making it a shining beacon that attracted the attention of even more people. As it was, Vas was starting to get concerned about how much attention the dungeon would gather from the surrounding countries in the near future.
Because of the way that things were developing, Vas spent long days trying to come up with plans alongside the queen and his advisors to try to improve the military potential of their kingdom. To the advisors, this seemed like a terribly rushed decision, which if played poorly, could be interpreted by their neighboring countries as a threat to their own safety. This could then lead to a situation in which war was inevitable, and yet the king himself was adamant about the necessity to increase the military force of the kingdom.
“Enough!” he said to them, slamming his fist on the table. “We have a crisis on our hands. I understand that if we play our cards wrong we can spark a war with our neighbors at the worst possible time. I understand all the logistical issues, but trust me on this. We need to at least fortify our position if we want to make it through this. Send messages to all major noble households in the north, I don’t care how you do it, start preparing as carefully as possible.” He fixed the group of advisors with a glare. “Every second counts, I feel it in my bones. It’s the same feeling that I have felt before dangerous situations in the past. We cannot be complacent. Go!”
After the intense speech by their king, none of the advisors could bring themselves to argue with him despite their skepticism. He was, after all, the king. Like it or not, they had to serve to the best of their abilities. Even if it meant the headache of trying to avoid alarming neighboring countries and trying to deal with the opposing noble faction within the kingdom at the same time. Oh, and handling the strain it would place on the treasury.
While everyone else was running away, no one noticed the queen giving the king a glare, with one fist on her hip. “I was right beside you. Could you not have moved away a little? You left my ears ringing.”
The king paled slightly as he sheepishly started to apologize.
Three weeks had passed since the village was attacked by the monstrous horde, and now the village had bounced back to its former glory. No, it would be fair to say that the village had in a short amount of time managed to improve upon the damages it sustained as a result of the monster stampede. Proper roads started construction along the most used paths of the village, short fences were placed around residential houses, and a militia of volunteers had been created and trained every week under the tutelage of James, Ella, and the rest of their party.
It was worth mentioning that the militia was created under the direct orders of the king, who entrusted Lady Dian Vela Rossa to complete the task. He even had provided her one hundred bronze short spears, each about one hundred and seventy centimeters in length, and an assortment of small to medium round shields for them to start practicing. A generous offer, and one delivered to her shockingly fast, finding the boxes waiting for her a mere week after the king had departed Nam. Why he had chosen to have them delivered secretly to her doorstep in the middle of the night she could not say, but she was grateful for them anyway.
As the new ruling lord of the village, Dian had eagerly strived to live up to the king’s first order. It was far easier than she expected, attracting over fifty men and women to join the militia of volunteers on the very first day of the announcement. Perhaps it was not abnormal to have a large number of volunteers, considering the ordeal they had endured. The terror that the entire village had experienced was a powerful driving force it would seem.
Considering the situation, it would be fair to say that many people had felt powerless and vulnerable in the face of such an enemy. Based on that, it wasn’t a stretch to think that those people fervently wished to never feel that way again. Thus, when presented with the opportunity to learn to protect themselves, the militia was an effective way for people to gather and use those resentful feelings to forge themselves into warriors that would at the very least offer some protection to their families.
Dian had to admit that she also suspected that part of the successful creation of the militia force was due to the adventurers that agreed to donate their time to train the commoners. With pseudo heroes such as James and Ella to train them, she had no doubt that many people had joined exclusively with the hopes to become somewhat more like them. The presence of trained, high-level adventurers as teachers also served to enhance the morale of the trainees, further encouraging them to work harder.
Nevertheless, she was ecstatic at the initial turnout for the new militia. Whatever the reason that drove the people to join, she was very grateful for the result. She could send a positive report to the king, and the village as a whole seemed to support her more after the announcement of the creation of the militia. She was now greeted with smiles and respect everywhere, which bolstered her own morale.
Still, she was troubled. The king had also asked her to prepare for the immigration of more countrymen in a letter, in which he warned her to prepare further by building up infrastructure. According to the king, he suspected that very soon many people would begin to migrate to Nam to test their fortune with the dungeon, or for the promise of starting a profitable business with a young, budding economy. In the short term, she would also have people arriving to face the incoming demonic threat. Barracks, an apothecary, a new well to provide water, etc. The list of recommendations provided by the king seemed overwhelming,
Fortunately, the king wasn’t ordering her to do that entirely on her own. The message had arrived with a sizable pouch of gold coins to help cover the majority of the expenses, which was a god-sent gift at the moment. Not only that, the message itself also stated that the king was sending her a handful of stonemasons and woodworkers to help start the upgrades that he recommended. Dian couldn’t be more thankful to the king at that point, for when she considered the economy of the village (which was just starting to develop) and the limited population available, trying to carry out all of the upgrades would be very strenuous for the village if left to do it on its own.
