The Dungeon Inn - English

B1C08 - The truth of the situation

The next morning the rain stopped. But Bruno refused to leave me alone, because the adventurers were still tense and a situation like yesterday could happen again. The crystal was also angry because of this. To him, the threat to my life was, as if they had directly threatened him. He didn't understand, why I was cooperating with them and not already attacking them.

Luckily, her boss didn't seem to have forgotten my words and turned to his partner.

"You go hunting and bring some wood with you. We can't risk them attracting anything with their incompetence or even trying to get their hands on poison. Also see if you see any medicinal herbs anywhere, we can use any help. If necessary, I'll keep the two of them at bay, until you get back. So do not worry."

With that one left the cave without hesitation and soon came back with two horn rabbits, wood and a few herbs. He threw the first two items over to us without a word. They immediately used the herbs on their colleague. Some they gave him as food and others they put on his wounds.

When it was night, we heard a howl.

"Tsk, those are wolves. They must have smelled the blood. Hey Demi, if you want your 'master' to stay alive, you better make yourself useful and make sure they don't get through. Simon, you take charge of those who break through and if one of them tries something crooked, you kill that one and then help me with the other one."

"Understood."

"Do what he says, Bruno."

With that, the two took up positions at the entrance, while I stayed behind with the injured one and the remaining adventurer protected us. We didn't have to wait long and the first wolf jumped through the hole. Bruno didn't hesitate and swung his club. The cave shook. Not only was the crystal still angry about yesterday, Bruno also seemed to have a bone to pick and took out his frustration on the wolves. That was probably the reason why he chose the club and not the spear, which was more suitable for the narrow space. However, the adventurer with him was not very impressed and filled in the gaps that Bruno left behind. He showed his fighting experience, as he complemented Bruno well without any prior training together. Only one wolf made it to the second adventurer through their cooperation, when too many came in at once. After that it was quiet again.

"It wasn't wrong, to let you live after all. You made yourself useful."

Bruno moved the wolf corpses into the side cave, while the adventurers discussed how to proceed. The injured man was now able to sit down again, but was still very weak.

I only found out their result at breakfast, when they announced they were leaving. They said, their colleague's recovery was taking too long and they would rather have someone check it and he was fit enough to be moved. So they didn't hesitate any further and set off immediately.

Even though they had used our resources well, the snake meat was completely consumed, without paying us for it, I didn't complain, as I was happy to have one less tension. Perhaps you could also say, that highlighting our vulnerabilities again was the payoff. It wasn't quite what I thought, it would be after the snake, but it was close. This dungeon is my own grave in case of danger. This also means, that when we are under siege, we are not sufficiently positioned to survive for any longer. The main problem is that I can't leave here. I could build a labyrinth with additional rooms and thus delay contact, but I cannot completely escape the danger. So even if I had enough mana to create that many rooms, it wouldn't solve the problem. I can't think of an alternative, I think I'll have to put the topic on hold.

Then we still have the problem of supply. Not only does it have to be a danger, it could also be that the entrance is blocked and it will take us a while, to clear it again. We need to be adequately supplied for that time. I don't need to eat, but that doesn't apply to my companions. But meat spoils over time and the humid climate in the cave causes the grass and berries to go bad quickly. We lack something edible, that has a long shelf life and can therefore be stored in large quantities. The situation is made worse, when we have guests, then the amount consumed is even greater. The problem should be solvable, I just need to find something, that will last a long time. If necessary, the slimes that I summon, will suffice as a temporary solution. They're just probably not too nutritious. Hmm? I think the crystal is trying to tell me something. He absorbed one of the wolves without my permission. Summon? Can I summon the things I absorbed again?

I made contact with the crystal and tried to summon the missing wolf corpse. Which worked immediately. Only a short time later it was in front of me again. It didn't cost too much mana to summon either, probably because it's already dead. However, the crystal gives me the feeling that this doesn't always work. Presumably because absorbing provides little or no mana. So it's more of a mana issue. So as long as I let enough meat be absorbed by the dungeon and save enough mana, the supply should be solved. This was unexpectedly easier than expected. But since it depends on mana, I should only use it for things, that are perishable.

The next thing I noticed is that I continued to neglect my protection too much. Bruno can defend me, but what if I just sent him on an errand? Then I'm unprotected in the dungeon. That means, I should soon summon another companion for protection. Then it occured to me, the adventurers paid after all. My mana grew well during that time, because they were there for several days and even killed wolves in the dungeon at the end. I should be able to summon someone.