The Dungeon Inn - English

B01C27 - Incomplete past

A few days passed since the big visit, but the new visit didn't take long to arrive. They met Bruno outside and he led them inside. It was an unusual visit. We were used to the somewhat simply dressed and equipped adventurers, but today's visitor was twelve men in full plate armor, with another one holding his helmet in his hands, at the front. He examined the cave and then focused on me. His look had something of a hunter, who had found his prey.

"Marco, I suppose. I come at the prince's behest. He has a message for everyone in the hostel. Could you please gather everyone together so I can announce it."

"Everyone is already here. Bruno brought you here, Sarah is behind me and Sven is sitting over there."

"Is that so? Then take them into custody and I advise you not to cause any trouble or we have permission to use force!"

The twelve men divided into groups of three and each took on one resident. Two would force the arms back and tie them, while the third made sure we didn't do anything stupid. It's self-explanatory that a hatred grew inside me. The crystal was seething with rage. My companions looked to me to see if they should defend themselves. But we had no chance, we were almost overrun and could only make the best of the situation. If they tied us up, we couldn't stop them from investigating the cave, meaning the crystal was in danger of being discovered. Not to mention the other creatures like the skeletons and the mimic. There was no way, this was supposed to happen! But how should I prevent it? I couldn't stop them, but the crystal had already shown several times, that it could act on its own accord. So I tried to mentally push through the crystal's hatred and make it clear to him that he should bring the mimic into the labyrinth and block the entrance to the labyrinth. I had to mentally repeat it several times until I felt, that he understood me. The final message I sent him, was to absorb the ice pillar. This should eliminate all dangers and allow us to focus on our guests. These were done with binding, not just with our hands. They also put earplugs, gags and blindfolds on us after taking us to the guest cave. They seemed to have knocked Karl unconscious. I was too distracted with the crystal to pay attention. Everything had happened far too quickly, but fortunately my companions understood that we would surrender.

I spent what felt like an eternity in the darkness. Then everything except the gag and handcuffs were removed. I could see six men standing in our guest room, watching over us, even when we were tied up. Two took me to their leader in the small side cave with the water spring. They seemed to have used it, at least you could see splashes of water everywhere. When the leader saw me, a grin spread across his face.

"Ah, here comes the big one, the current owner of this supposed inn."

I was put on the floor and my legs were tied again and the gag was removed.

"What does that mean?"

Slap. One of the men slapped me.

"You only have to speak when you have been asked something! Are we clear!?"

Slap. A further slap followed, because I was quiet for too long.

"Yes."

"Good. My questions are simple. So you should be able to answer them."

The leader leaned back on the stool against the wall.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Marco."

"And further?"

"I am the owner of the Rising Sun."

"Where do you come from?"

"I don't know that."

"Why not?"

"It's been so long, that I've forgotten."

"How long have you been here."

"Months"

"Then you should know which direction you came from."

"I always walked towards the setting sun."

"Hah, nice try. Do you know what's in the East?"

"No."

"The Doom Forest. How likely is it that a weakling like you came through the forest. Alone."

"..."

"You see, you can't fool me. Did Bruno and Sarah came together?"

"Yes."

Suddenly my head was pushed forward and down. Where the water source was. I tried to quickly pull my head back, but a hand held me there for a while until it finally violently pulled me back up and I gasped.

"How stupid of you to lie to me, when I just told you, that you can't fool me. You know, you made up the lie that Bruno and Sarah came together. As always with lies, the devil is in the details. I also asked them which direction they came from and guess what, their statements didn't match. So they didn't come together."

He smiled slightly at me.

"Why are you lying about this?"

"You know Sarah's appearance, I thought it would be better for her, if we pretended she came with Bruno."

"Hmm, there is a grain of truth in the statement, but is it the complete truth? What are you doing here?"

"We run the inn and keep an eye on the forest on behalf of the Adventurers Guild."

"Nothing else?"

"No."

"As far as I know, the inn was your first goal. The other was added at the request of the guild. Why open a inn here?"

"I wanted to live in a secluded place and the cave was hidden well enough."

"A inn attracts visitors. Doesn't that contradict itself?"

"It's okay to have a visit every now and then and because of the remote location, visitors rarely come."

"The forest tends to keep visitors away. Did you know about the danger of him?"

"No."

"What is the prince's name?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know the prince? Every citizen should know the king and his prince. What's the king's name?"

"I don't know."

"The Principality?"

"I don't know."

"The kingdom?"

"I don't know."

"One of the neighboring countries?"

"I don't know."

"So you have no idea where you are and you find a hole in the ground to a cave and you think, hey, let me live here and open a inn."

"Exactly."